College Students Want Their Money Back Amid Coronavirus Lockdowns

College is a scam in which teenagers are tricked into paying tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars under the belief that starting their adult lives in massive debt is actually the only way to get ahead in their careers. In exchange, students receive a degree and some vague assortment of various campus amenities, blacked-out social lives, mental health crises and mostly regrettable sexual encounters we’ve decided constitute the ever-crucial “College Experience.”

As it happens, students are less sold on that exchange when the vast majority of experiences that make up that capital-E College Experience are rendered inaccessible by a viral pandemic that forces them to move back in with their parents and take classes online. Apparently finding that the virtual college experience pales in comparison to the real thing, students at colleges and universities across the United States are demanding their money back. Multiple petitions and lawsuits have been filed by students seeking refunds for fees that went toward on-campus services they can no longer access, including gyms and health centers, Vice reported.

However, while students facing massive financial uncertainty may be looking to recoup funds for services their schools were forced to stop providing, higher education experts warn that the pandemic has left many institutions in dire financial shape as well. With schools expecting significant declines in enrollment next semester and unsure when they’ll be able to resume on-campus learning, many schools are especially unwilling to consider refunding tuition money now, as most would struggle to even under normal circumstances. “Universities aren’t set up or prepared to give money back,” said economist Carlo Salerno, explaining that most of the money schools bring in from students is already allotted to crucial expenses like faculty salaries and building maintenance. “It’s really hard to make the case that universities and colleges are trying to specifically hoard money or keep money,” he added.

Unsurprisingly, however, the students who paid money for an experience their college can no longer deliver don’t think that’s their problem.

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