On March 12th, 2020, The Ohio State University announced that, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person lectures would be suspended indefinitely through the remainder of the spring 2020 term. Moreover, the university announced that it would be "facilitating a scheduled and orderly process for students to move out of the residence halls."

While the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus is ultimately 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, housing.

Because the last date of in-person instruction was March 6th, 2020, and because many students will be completing programs online that are not officially offered as online programs by the University, the students of The Ohio State 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 dormitories will not be permitted to reside in those dormitories for the entirety of the semester, the students of The Ohio State University hereby request the University to refund those students who paid the full cost of university housing for the spring 2020 term.

It is ultimately not the responsibility of Ohio State students, many 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. The Ohio State University reported a 2018 yearly revenue of over $7 billion and is thus better equipped to bear the financial burden than us students.