Why Stan State University students are petitioning for a refund of fall semester fees
An online petition to remove “extra fees” being charged to California State University, Stanislaus, students for the fall semester, during which they’ll study remotely, was well on its way Thursday to its goal of 5,000 signatures.
The Change.org petition was begun by Turlock resident and Stanislaus State sophomore Avery Reed. “I mostly wanted to do it just because college already is so expensive and with these fees it’s getting harder and harder to pay,” she told The Bee, “and a lot of people have lost jobs or gotten pay cuts.”
The image atop her petition is a university fee breakdown showing that an undergrad student taking more than six units pays $3,803, with just $2,871 being tuition. Among other charges are $302, University Union; $148, Student Recreation Complex; $215, Health Services; and $115, Athletics.
The petition argues that because students will study online for fall because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they “should not have to pay additional fees for on-campus resources we do not have access to.”
“The school acts as if virtual education is the same as face to face. But that is not the case,” her fellow student Tomas Alvarez told The Bee in an email.
The nearly 4,000 people who had signed as of Thursday include self-identified students, alumni and parents. One student wrote in the petition’s comment section: “... gym, food options, the library, computer lab, study areas. Why am I paying all of this money for these if we can not use them?” Another wrote: “It’s a basic law: you can’t sell an object or service without being able to provide it to your consumer.”
But university officials told Reed and The Bee that many services do continue. An email response from the Student Financial Services office to an inquiry by Reed said, in part, “many of the services are still available to students during COVID, food pantry, health center, computer center, mail services, rec center (offering on-line zoom exercise classes) and many others. All the campus staff and faculty are still working every day to provide services to help with the needs of all students.”
And Senior Associate Vice President Rosalee Rush said in an email to The Bee, “Campus operations continue and we will continue to provide academic and program services online, such as tutoring, telehealth support, technology assistance, ASI programming and online virtual sessions provided by the recreation center in the fall.”
In another email to Reed, university Vice President Christene James wrote that students pay mandatory fees regardless of whether they are full time, part time, studying online or studying abroad, and even if they do not expect to ever use the programs or facilities they support. “We hope that students understand that if they want the facilities and services to be available to them in the future, they must, of course, be supported and maintained during the pandemic. For example, our health center, psychological counseling, recreation center and other programs are offering virtual services.”
Though noting that the closure of the university campus because of the coronavirus pandemic “truly is a time like we have never experienced before,” Rush told The Bee the fees in question are subject to refund only in “very limited circumstances.”
One such circumstance, the university says, is that when a student cancels registration prior to the first day of instruction, he or she is entitled to a full refund of all tuition and fees.
Another, according to the California Code of Regulations, is that “Tuition and mandatory fees may be refunded if the student or an authorized representative petitions the university for a refund demonstrating exceptional circumstances and the chief financial officer of the university or designee makes a determination that the tuition and mandatory fees have not been earned by the university.”
The mandatory fees cover fixed and ongoing expenses Stanislaus State continues to incur during the pandemic to finance, maintain and operate student facilities and programs, Rush said. She referred to a COVID-19 page of the California State University system’s website that says, “All campuses plan to continue for the foreseeable future to provide academic credit for courses taken and delivered by alternative means, therefore refunds of tuition and other campus mandatory fees are not warranted.”
She did note that Stanislaus State has provided refunds of nonmandatory fees for students for the spring 2020 semester, such as parking permits, housing for students who moved out early, meal plans and fees for courses that had events or activities canceled because the courses moved to virtual instruction.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 12:16 PM.
