Dear Ms. Diane Estipona and Administrators of Samuel Merritt University, SFP campus,

I am contacting you on behalf of the Jan 2022 ABSN SFP cohort. We are petitioning against having to use our $70 allowance to purchase a pin in request for a refund for tuition or to have it allocated to our cohort funds instead.

Our cohort is graduating from the program in Jan 2022, but the pinning ceremony/official graduation will not take place until May 2022 to our understanding. Our cohort members does not feel the necessity to use $70 during a pandemic when we are all in heavy debt and trying to manage a variety of bills to survive during a pandemic. If a refund is not possible, we prefer to use the funds for a more meaningful experience for the cohort as a whole. Especially since we have been prevented from spending time together with the COVID restrictions.

Some students have already placed their order with the mindset that this was mandatory and would like to cancel the order if this petition is passed.