In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, all in-person lectures within Midwestern University were canceled beginning March 16, 2020. While the decision by the university to transition to online classes was necessary in order to safeguard the health and safety of students, faculty, and the community, students no longer received the education and resources paid for in their tuition dollars. Despite the Midwestern University's mission of “dedicating the institution and its resources to the highest standards of academic excellence to meet the educational needs of the healthcare community,” we, as the students, believe our quality of education has been severely impacted by the absence of resources paid for in our tuition for the Spring 2020 quarter, and therefore are requesting a partial refund for the following reasons:

-Tuition fees paid by the students for campus facilities and amenities that were unable to be utilized beginning March 16, 2020.
-Multiple instances of professors uploading 10-15 minute lecture videos to substitute a 50 minute lecture period. This issue was presented to faculty, but the length and quality of lectures failed to change.
-Multiple instances of professors failing to offer guidance in a face-to-face format, i.e. via video chat, and instead instructing students to send their questions in an email or on a Canvas discussion board.

We, as students, understand the importance of social-distancing and taking all necessary measures to protect each other during this pandemic, and thus realize that many of these factors influencing our quality of education are out of the university’s control. However, we feel that the tuition paid for the spring quarter has not provided us with the quality of education expected of a doctorate-level program.

Therefore, we respectfully implore the administration to rightfully grant us monetary return compensation. The partial return in fees would not only more accurately reflect the value of education and access to resources received this quarter, but would also help to mitigate some of the immense financial stress many students are experiencing during this time.