Students at the University of Lethbridge are sounding the alarm about the school’s decision to hold most classes online until 28 February, which will leave only five weeks of personal tuition for the rest of the semester.
Carleigh Jackson, who is in her third year of study, said many students, herself included, seek certainty when it comes to planning for the rest of the school year.
Although she does not prefer online learning over a personal experience, she believes cutting the semester in half only makes things more difficult.
“Doing half of the semester online and then going to a personal delivery (is) confusing. It does not make sense, “said Jackson. “It’s difficult for many students’ life situations.”
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An online petition was launched last week and describes concerns felt by the student population.
His main questions include moving the rest of the spring semester online where possible, extending addition deadlines for classes, reimbursing the cost of the UPass – a mandatory transit membership for students – and moving exams online.
“The decision not to make a decision has left those who do not usually live in the city of Lethbridge or the surrounding area with even more uncertainty, as the assumption that personal classes will be resumed as now scheduled, those students will only for Lethbridge comes five weeks of personal classes and final exams, an amount of time that may not be worth the stress and cost of moving for some students, ”reads the petition.
Craig Smith, whose daughter attends U or L, said she had problems with her housing on campus.
“The first problem is the internet is brutal,” he said.
On top of that, she initially thought one of her labs would be kept personal, which prompted her to move back to Lethbridge after the holidays. However, that was not the case.
“After the New Year, she’s coming back to Lethbridge to discover that lab is online again,” he said.
The university’s regular housing policy stipulates that written notice “must be completed and received by Housing Services on or before the last working day of the previous month to make the notice valid for the last day of the following month.”
This means that when Smith’s daughter gave notice at the beginning of January after finding out her studies were fully online, she was told she would still have to pay in full for January and February.
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The university currently has 915 residence students, with about 400 on campus.
“Plus (she) is breaking their contract, so there is also a $ 400 fee attached to it,” Smith added. “It seems a bit unfair to students, especially with the price of university. I mean her university year is almost $ 18,000 a year. ”
However, the university said in a statement to Global News late Tuesday afternoon that it had changed its repayment policy when it came to housing.
“After reviewing the repayment policies in light of the ever-changing COVID-19 situation, the university will issue refunds to those who choose to leave the residence,” the statement said.
“The refunded portion will be in proportion to the number of days remaining on their housing contract once they have notified the university and removed their belongings.”
School officials could not provide further information on possible refunds for UPass or parking services.
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Reference-globalnews.ca