Opinion: UC students didn't get what they paid for during pandemic
The University of Cincinnati is our city's oldest institution of higher education and the second largest in the state. It has a long history of excellence and helping students like me realize their dreams of earning a college degree and launching into a meaningful career.
In their promotional materials and mission statement, they extol the virtues of "experience-based learning" and express that it is the most valuable component of the UC’s programs. In fact, they've made that a critical part of their curriculum for more than 100 years, having invented the concept of cooperative education in 1906. They know the best way to learn is by doing and seeing. I chose to enroll as a student at UC because of these kinds of features, the classroom and campus experiences I knew I would receive alongside my peers and professors, and my belief in their commitment to hands-on student success.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Spring 2020 semester, UC had to make the difficult decision to abruptly move students to online courses. I don’t take issue with the need to take drastic steps during this unprecedented time. However, I learned first-hand that hastily-planned remote instruction is not equivalent to in-person classes and did not meet the level of excellence we had come to expect. There is also the reality that the closure of campus, services and in-person education did not come close to fulfilling what students were directly or implicitly promised when we invested in an education at UC.
For example, prior to the semester, all of the courses I selected were listed as “University of Cincinnati” and located at a specific campus, and the mode of instruction for all of my courses was listed as “In Person.” While technical, these distinctions are incredibly important. Not only were the campus and learning experiences that have come to define UC part of the bargain for myself and my fellow classmates, but we also understood that UC was promising to provide us with in-person classes when we made clear decisions during course selection.
I, like many other students, paid thousands of dollars through student loans for an education, facilities, and services we simply did not receive that semester − and to date, we have received no refund whatsoever for tuition. It was an obvious breach of contract. To help right this wrong, I am the lead plaintiff on a lawsuit for my classmates and me to be paid back a portion of the tuition from that semester.
The case raises one central question: Should UC be allowed to keep the tuition and fees students paid for in-person instruction during the Spring 2020 semester, or should it instead be required to refund a portion of that money because it did not provide the services that students paid for?
While most of the world has made efforts to address challenges and injustices presented by the pandemic, the two entities with the power to remedy this particular issue – UC and the Office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost − have unfortunately remained silent.
Thousands of students were impacted and it is past time for UC and Yost to engage with us in an open and honest dialogue.
Autumn Adams is the lead plaintiff in Adams v. The University of Cincinnati. She lives in Cincinnati and attended UC from 2017-2020.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Opinion: University Cincinnati students were cheated during pandemic
