Reduce Ithaca College Tuition, Provide Resources, and Refund Students
The Issue
On August 18, 2020, Ithaca College President Shirley M. Collado emailed the student body to inform us, just two weeks before classes were set to begin, that no students would be welcome on campus for the fall and that all classes for the first semester would be taken remotely. Although much of the student body agreed with this decision on the basis of maintaining the wellness and safety of everyone in our Ithaca College community, it is entirely unreasonable that this decision was made last minute. Many students had already made financial commitments and travel arrangements to pack and move in, paid to ship items up for their dorms/living spaces, bought parking passes, signed leases for apartments near campus, and made impactful choices with a semester on-campus in mind.
As a result of the personal consequences caused by this haphazard decision, the student body is hereby requesting that Ithaca College reduce their tuition for this semester by 30 to 50%, cover costs of applications needed for certain classes, and reimburse students who made monetary commitments that are no longer vital or necessary in light of this last-minute announcement.
Our student body thoroughly believes in the exceptionalism in education offered by this institution. But unfortunately, the experience of online learning simply does not compare to the quality of in-person and hands-on learning. In addition to this, many of the amenities available to us on campus that are being financed with typical tuition cost will not be accessible to students. We believe this strengthens the necessity of a tuition reduction. Some of these on-campus facilities include resources from the library, classroom rentals, extracurricular organizations, equipment from PPEC, access to buildings that house resources exclusively for student use, provided class materials, in-person help from the writing center, in-person peer tutoring, and physical labs. For many students at IC, these resources are absolutely necessary to conduct classes as they would normally be held. How will Whalen students practice without a practice room? How will Dillingham students dance without floors that are healthy and safe to move on? How will sports teams play without a field? How will Park students make quality films without the proper equipment? These are absolute necessities, this cannot be disputed, and they are necessities paid for by tuition. We believe that our inability to access these necessities warrants a tuition reduction.
There is no reason why the cost of tuition should remain the same when these on-campus resources cannot be utilized remotely. The money that a student would normally spend on IC’s typical tuition rate could be more practically applied to students’ living situations for the fall semester, internet access, tuition for semesters to come, future travel costs, books and other materials needed for class, necessary equipment, personal tutoring, etc.
Other forms of on-Campus support that students depend on will also be unavailable. Platforms like Adobe Cloud Service, Pro Tools, Sibelius, and other apps that students are expected to use for certain classes are costly, those fees would come out-of-pocket if used on students’ personal devices. Some students are entirely unable to afford these subscriptions on their own. We request that Ithaca College should offer to pay for subscriptions to these services that students typically have free access to on campus.
On-campus privileges, like parking passes, school health insurance/food plans, and many other additional resources on campus that have already been purchased by many students, prior to knowing about the new plan for the fall semester, should also be fully refunded.
So, to the administration of Ithaca College: If you care about the students that attend your institution, want everyone to return to your campus in the upcoming spring, and hope to continue to uphold your mission of being a collective, caring community, we as the student body urge you to take these points into consideration and implement them for this upcoming semester.
304
The Issue
On August 18, 2020, Ithaca College President Shirley M. Collado emailed the student body to inform us, just two weeks before classes were set to begin, that no students would be welcome on campus for the fall and that all classes for the first semester would be taken remotely. Although much of the student body agreed with this decision on the basis of maintaining the wellness and safety of everyone in our Ithaca College community, it is entirely unreasonable that this decision was made last minute. Many students had already made financial commitments and travel arrangements to pack and move in, paid to ship items up for their dorms/living spaces, bought parking passes, signed leases for apartments near campus, and made impactful choices with a semester on-campus in mind.
As a result of the personal consequences caused by this haphazard decision, the student body is hereby requesting that Ithaca College reduce their tuition for this semester by 30 to 50%, cover costs of applications needed for certain classes, and reimburse students who made monetary commitments that are no longer vital or necessary in light of this last-minute announcement.
Our student body thoroughly believes in the exceptionalism in education offered by this institution. But unfortunately, the experience of online learning simply does not compare to the quality of in-person and hands-on learning. In addition to this, many of the amenities available to us on campus that are being financed with typical tuition cost will not be accessible to students. We believe this strengthens the necessity of a tuition reduction. Some of these on-campus facilities include resources from the library, classroom rentals, extracurricular organizations, equipment from PPEC, access to buildings that house resources exclusively for student use, provided class materials, in-person help from the writing center, in-person peer tutoring, and physical labs. For many students at IC, these resources are absolutely necessary to conduct classes as they would normally be held. How will Whalen students practice without a practice room? How will Dillingham students dance without floors that are healthy and safe to move on? How will sports teams play without a field? How will Park students make quality films without the proper equipment? These are absolute necessities, this cannot be disputed, and they are necessities paid for by tuition. We believe that our inability to access these necessities warrants a tuition reduction.
There is no reason why the cost of tuition should remain the same when these on-campus resources cannot be utilized remotely. The money that a student would normally spend on IC’s typical tuition rate could be more practically applied to students’ living situations for the fall semester, internet access, tuition for semesters to come, future travel costs, books and other materials needed for class, necessary equipment, personal tutoring, etc.
Other forms of on-Campus support that students depend on will also be unavailable. Platforms like Adobe Cloud Service, Pro Tools, Sibelius, and other apps that students are expected to use for certain classes are costly, those fees would come out-of-pocket if used on students’ personal devices. Some students are entirely unable to afford these subscriptions on their own. We request that Ithaca College should offer to pay for subscriptions to these services that students typically have free access to on campus.
On-campus privileges, like parking passes, school health insurance/food plans, and many other additional resources on campus that have already been purchased by many students, prior to knowing about the new plan for the fall semester, should also be fully refunded.
So, to the administration of Ithaca College: If you care about the students that attend your institution, want everyone to return to your campus in the upcoming spring, and hope to continue to uphold your mission of being a collective, caring community, we as the student body urge you to take these points into consideration and implement them for this upcoming semester.
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Petition created on August 19, 2020