NJ Court Upholds Decision to Deny Tuition Refunds to College Students Who Switched to Remote Learning During COVID-19 Pandemic
Students Denied Tuition Refunds for Remote Learning During COVID-19 Pandemic
January 7, 2023
Students at two colleges in New Jersey will not receive tuition refunds after a state appellate court ruled that the schools did not breach their contracts when they switched to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Andrew Mueller and Athena Brock-Murray filed a lawsuit against Kean University, and Colin Keyes filed a lawsuit against Montclair State University, after in-person instruction was halted in March 2020. The undergraduate students claimed that the colleges were unjustly enriched when they kept tuition money and other fees, but did not reimburse students for tuition when in-person classes were moved online. The lawsuits were eventually dismissed, and the students appealed the cases, arguing that the trial courts should not have based their decisions on the state's Emergency Health Powers Act. The appellate court ruled last week that the colleges were immune from liability under state and federal constitutions, and that online instruction was not unreasonable or unnecessary. Read more here.
“We hold that Kean and Montclair are immune from damages for transitioning to total online instruction rather than an in-person, on-campus education experience during the COVID-19 public health emergency,” the appellate court ruled.
10 Key Points
Students at two colleges in New Jersey filed lawsuits after their schools switched to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The students claimed that the schools breached their contracts and were unjustly enriched when they kept tuition money and other fees.
The schools returned money that students paid for dorms and associated costs, but did not reimburse for tuition when in-person classes moved online.
The lawsuits were dismissed and the students appealed the cases, arguing that the trial courts should not have relied on the state's Emergency Health Powers Act.
The appellate court upheld the lower courts' rulings and found that the colleges were immune from liability under state and federal constitutions.
The appellate court also determined that online instruction was not unreasonable or unnecessary.
The appellate court did not consider whether the colleges had breached their contracts with the students or were unjustly enriched.
The students argued that online options were subpar and did not match the in-person instruction that they had paid for.
The universities argued that they found a way to continue providing education to their students and did not breach any existing contracts.
The trial courts granted the universities' motions to dismiss the lawsuits, finding that they were immune from liability due to the pandemic and the resulting shutdown of schools and businesses in the state.
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