Ohio colleges refunding millions of dollars to students
Fifteen major public and private colleges in Ohio are offering students prorated refunds for their short-lived spring 2020 semesters. Tens of thousands of these students were forced from their on-campus housing in late March when the coronavirus pandemic closed campuses. Some students were on spring break out of state and were never able to spend another night in their dorm rooms.
Now, because of those unforeseen circumstances, the following universities are refunding millions of dollars to students who paid for room, board, and parking passes.
However, only one university of the 15 is refunding students’ general fees, calling it “the right thing to do.”
“We’ve restricted or prohibited students from having access to campus grounds, classroom buildings, parking lots and other campus amenities,” said Ron Cole, the public information officer at Youngstown State University.
For YSU students, the prorated refund includes fees that pay for services no longer accessible to them, such as the recreational center and library.
“We felt it only fair to refund a portion of their fees that are intended to cover costs associated with campus facilities,” Cole said.
Youngstown State student Avery Howard agreed with Cole. “Is it right? Yes. It’s right in the sense if we’re not using things like the rec center. Obviously, we can’t go there because it’s closed.”
Howard is running for vice-president of the student body at Youngstown State and said giving the money back to the students is the right thing to do. “On-campus usage, like the library and things like that, if you pay fees for that, I feel as if, if there’s no way to access them, then how are we utilizing that money?”
At Kent State University, the remaining money from student fees is being used to move materials for 9,000 courses online, said Eric Mansfield, the director of media relations. An estimated $7.4 million dollars of the remaining general fee from the semester was earmarked for student services. However, this money has already been disbursed to student services in full at the beginning of the semester. Athletics, for example, uses this money to buy uniforms for players.
“Like many universities that are not refunding general fees, many of our costs covered by general fees have increased with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Mansfield said. The remaining money from the fee is now going toward online learning, Mansfield said.
Most schools in Ohio, like Youngstown State University, add the general fee into their tuition for student billing. At Kent State, the fee is charged in addition to the $809.70 tuition per semester for both full-time and part-time students, according to Kent State’s bursar’s office. With 24,274 students who attend Kent State’s main campus, that’s more than $19.6 million in fees.
The money is then broken down by percentages and goes to supporting a specific student service. For example, out of every dollar that comes from the general fee, 33 cents go to athletics, 13 cents go to recreational services, 12 cents go to the student center, and 10 cents go to facility operations.
Some students at Kent State took to Twitter to express their feelings with not being refunded for fees associated with courses.
President of Kent State University, Todd Diacon said there has been over $14 million issued in refunds to students. All refunds are expected to be returned to students by April 30th. Diacon said the university is currently on track to beat this deadline by almost two weeks. This money is only from room, board, and parking passes.
The university is currently looking into refunding some fees associated with courses, Diacon said.
Diacon explained the university is still operating- meaning the general fees are still being used. “Our health center is still operational fully with tele-medicine. That’s something general fees pay for. General feels pay for our physiological counseling services. Those are still in full operation through tele-counseling. And so, as the university continues to operate, we still continue to use those general fees,” said Diacon.
Diacon provided examples of the leftover money going towards providing hotspots for students without internet or laptops for instructors without computers at home.
The pandemic has caused several other financial issues for Kent State, Diacon said. Over the summer the university had plans to finish a $7.5 million HVAC and air conditioning converter project. This project had to be delayed to recoup some of the financial loss the university has made because of the pandemic.
There are currently no delays in the Kent campus gateway master plan.
Diacon said the university is expected to lose almost $25 million this fiscal year. He expects the federal government will assist with an estimated $9 million of these losses.
“Next year will also be a challenge, but I think we’re as well placed as anybody in Ohio going into the pandemic- well placed financially,” Diacon said.
