On March 12th, 2020, Grand Canyon University announced that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly all on-ground classes would be suspended for the remainder of the spring 2020 semester. Additionally, the university encouraged all students to "return to their homes to complete their coursework online."

While the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus is out of the control of the university, it is completely unreasonable for the student body to pay the full cost of tuition and, if applicable, room and board if they are not receiving the same quality of education from on-ground classes and are being asked to not utilize the meals and housing for which they have paid.

Because the last date of on-ground instruction was March 12th, 2020, and because most students will be completing programs online that are not traditionally offered as online programs by the University, the students of Grand Canyon University hereby request the University to refund all students the difference between the costs of in-person instruction and online instruction. Furthermore, because students residing in University housing are being asked not to reside in their respective on-campus housing for the remainder of the semester, the students of Grand Canyon University hereby request the University to refund those students who paid the full cost of university housing for the spring 2020 semester.

It is ultimately not the responsibility of GCU students, most of which are currently full-time students and thus are considered low-income earners, to bear the cost of the impact of the coronavirus on academic resources. Grand Canyon University reported a 2019 yearly revenue of over $778 million and is thus better equipped to bear the financial burden than us students.