A lawsuit filed Friday by a Rochester Institute of Technology student is seeking tuition and fee reimbursement from the university after students were forced to leave campus following the outbreak of COVID-19.

Like colleges across the country, RIT sent students home, and learning transitioned from in-class to online.

“RIT did the right thing by sending students to online classes given the COVID-19 pandemic, all this lawsuit seeks to do is get the difference of value back to the students between that in-person on campus experience and the online experience they’re now getting,” said attorney Roy Willey, who is representing plaintiff Nicholas Bergeron.

The lawsuit says online learning at RIT is cheaper than in-class learning, which offers a different “experience.” Willey says it’s also about collecting prorated fees.

“This case is about mandatory fees which RIT issues and getting a fair proration, and also tuition,” added Willey.

In other parts of the country, students have filed suits seeking similar reimbursements from their colleges amid the pandemic.

Many colleges and universities across the area and the country, including RIT, have refunded room and board costs as well as other expenditures, but not tuition.

Rochester native Allison Feeley is a senior at the State University of New York at Oswego. A film and cinema studies major, Feeley says learning online from home has been challenging.

“Stressful,” she said. “It’s been up and down. Some classes I had were prepared for this; other ones were not. There’s a distance. It’s just not the same. It’s lonely but it’s almost like you have to teach it yourself.”

RIT wouldn’t comment on the pending litigation, and said tuition would not be reimbursed as students are still receiving academic credit for the online courework.

— 13 WHAM