The University of La Verne will pay $8.9 million to resolve claims that its students didn’t get their tuition’s worth in spring 2020 due to campus closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Those eligible for payments are students who were enrolled as traditional undergraduates at the university’s main campus in La Verne.
Those students who enrolled for online-only classes at the beginning of the spring 2020 semester, who paid no tuition or fees, or who left the university prior to March 16, 2020, will not receive any payment.
Under the terms of the Jan. 18 settlement, eligible students may receive a cash payment based on the amount they paid in tuition for the spring 2020 semester. Payments will vary.
In fall 2019, the university had 2,509 undergraduates enrolled at its La Verne campus, according to the school’s website.
Former student Brianna Arredondo, who was enrolled in the 2019-20 year and called for a partial refund of tuition and fees for that spring semester, filed the class action lawsuit in February 2021.
Tuition for the 2019-20 spring semester was about $23,000 for undergraduate students, according to the lawsuit.
In March 2020, the university transitioned all classes to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home orders that ensued. The suit alleges it was unfair for the university to make an abrupt switch to virtual courses while charging students their usual tuition rates.
Students paid “tuition for a first-rate education and on-campus, in-person educational experiences,” the lawsuit reads, however “instead of receiving such benefits,” they were “provided a materially different alternative.”
While the University of La Verne hasn’t admitted any wrongdoing, it did agree to “settle the lawsuit to avoid the expense, inconvenience, and distraction of continued litigation and a trial,” officials said in a statement Tuesday, Feb. 14.
The university previously increased the available financial aid available for the 2020-2021 school year by $6.3 million, of which $2.2 million was specifically distributed to all undergraduates regardless of merit or financial need.
Additionally, affected students will receive support through continued access to La Verne’s Career Center and Academic Success Center, along with a 10% tuition discount for graduate programs.
The final approval hearing for the settlement is scheduled for April 10.
The University of La Verne is not alone in facing such litigation. More than 70 universities and colleges have been hit with class action lawsuits seeking tuition refunds, among other reimbursements, revolving around spring semester 2020.
While judges have largely dismissed such cases, other universities have reached settlements with students. Most notably, Johns Hopkins University agreed to pay a $6.6 million settlement in January, and Harvard and Columbia have settled similar cases.
