LECOM Pharmacy School Raises Final Year Tuition During Pandemic
LECOM Pharmacy School Raises Final Year Tuition During Pandemic
The Issue
We are students at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Pharmacy Class of 2021- Erie Campus. We are in an accelerated 3 year pharmacy program and we are about to begin our final year. Our first two years of pharmacy school consisted of in class learning and our final year entails Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) Rotations which allows us to gain hands on pharmacy experience in the "real world." We will not physically be on the campus for our final year.
We recently received our Billing Statement for our next semester and to everyone's shock and disbelief, our tuition increased! We were not forewarned of this change nor given any reason why. What is even more upsetting is that this change was done during the COVID-19 pandemic. During these uncertain times other schools throughout the country are actually discounting tuition (Princeton University) or freezing tuition (Rutgers University, Harvard University.) Beside not being forewarned of the change, we were not given a solid explanation or justification on why the tuition was increased. We deserve to know why. The $165 rebate we did receive (from the CARES Act Emergency Financial Aid Grant) was an insult, especially when we are being charged an increase for our final year.
By signing this petition:
1) We are refusing to pay the increase in our 2020-2021 tuition. During our APPE rotations we need money to pay for transportation, housing, and other APPE related expenses. The tuition increase was uncalled for during a worldwide pandemic.
2) We deserve compensation because during part of our Spring Semester and ALL of our Summer Semester we were not able to utilize the on campus amenities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since our Spring Break in March of 2020 we have not been able to return to campus and over the past four months we have had to adjust to self guided learning. For the Spring and Summer Semesters we paid the agreed price, but once COVID-19 occurred we were not able to have the in class learning experience, we were not able to utilize the Learning Resource Center, and we were not able to access all of the in person aspects that we paid for!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
The Issue
We are students at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Pharmacy Class of 2021- Erie Campus. We are in an accelerated 3 year pharmacy program and we are about to begin our final year. Our first two years of pharmacy school consisted of in class learning and our final year entails Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) Rotations which allows us to gain hands on pharmacy experience in the "real world." We will not physically be on the campus for our final year.
We recently received our Billing Statement for our next semester and to everyone's shock and disbelief, our tuition increased! We were not forewarned of this change nor given any reason why. What is even more upsetting is that this change was done during the COVID-19 pandemic. During these uncertain times other schools throughout the country are actually discounting tuition (Princeton University) or freezing tuition (Rutgers University, Harvard University.) Beside not being forewarned of the change, we were not given a solid explanation or justification on why the tuition was increased. We deserve to know why. The $165 rebate we did receive (from the CARES Act Emergency Financial Aid Grant) was an insult, especially when we are being charged an increase for our final year.
By signing this petition:
1) We are refusing to pay the increase in our 2020-2021 tuition. During our APPE rotations we need money to pay for transportation, housing, and other APPE related expenses. The tuition increase was uncalled for during a worldwide pandemic.
2) We deserve compensation because during part of our Spring Semester and ALL of our Summer Semester we were not able to utilize the on campus amenities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since our Spring Break in March of 2020 we have not been able to return to campus and over the past four months we have had to adjust to self guided learning. For the Spring and Summer Semesters we paid the agreed price, but once COVID-19 occurred we were not able to have the in class learning experience, we were not able to utilize the Learning Resource Center, and we were not able to access all of the in person aspects that we paid for!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Petition Closed
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The Decision Makers
Petition created on July 6, 2020