Fellow students, if you are attending a university within the UNC school system, and are paying full, in-person tuition, I believe you should receive a partial tuition refund due to the change of in-person courses now being provided virtually. My name is Benjamin Nelson and I am a nursing major at ECU. I serve as the senior class Vice President for my program within East Carolina University. As a student attending an excellent nursing school, we are taught to continuously advocate on our patients’ behalf. Likewise, we have the responsibility to advocate for our peers in the community. This petition has been created in response to the inactivity of our schools, governor, and state government. This is our education. This is our money. This is our time to speak up. What started as a simple disgruntlement over unfair fees has turned into something much larger than our own university. All students in the UNC school systems are faced with this issue. 

Public universities in North Carolina knew the likelihood of in-person education continuing during the worst global pandemic in over a century was close to zero. Yet, these universities continued to charge full tuition. This pandemic has hit our nation hard. It is not fair nor right for universities to charge for in-person instruction when that is not being provided. If a student is learning solely online, that student should be paying the proper distance education tuition. Students have made endless adjustments during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to follow state and university policies. Universities should be required to make those same adjustments on our behalf. 

Universities claim to have their students “best interest” in mind. Yet, they still expect students to pay a UNC system-wide university fee of $1000 for facilities and services despite the fact that they are not available for student use. It seems to be a small coincidence that UNC Chapel Hill issued a notification to their student body that classes would be moved from in-person instruction to fully online only an hour and a half before their withdrawal process from courses could be completed. Students at NCSU were also faced with a similar situation. These actions are not in the students’ best interest. 

The UNC Board of Governors voted on July 23rd to keep tuition and fees, including athletics and student activity fees, the same this year regardless of whether students are physically able to attend classes on campus. They also made a statement that no refunds or pro-rating would be given if their universities move to online instruction due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic this fall. To provide some perspective, on campus or in-person tuition at East Carolina University for in-state students per year is estimated at $7,239.00, while in-state distance education is estimated at $4,104.00 per year. The UNC Board of Governors mandated that you must still pay approximately $3,135 above the distance education rate, even though we will all be distance education students for the foreseeable future and most likely into next year. In essence, you will have paid $1,500.00 per week for two weeks of on-campus learning this semester. For those that are not in-state, the cost is even more inflated. 

The Chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, Randy Ramsey, stated “We believe we have to support the services associated with campuses and all the different aspects that continue to support the students while they are getting their education at one of our campuses”. While he may have believed this to be true, this is not the students’ reality. Within the first two weeks of returning to school, UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University moved to fully online classes. I predict East Carolina University is not far behind as COVID-19 clusters have begun to inundate our campus.

The UNC Board of Governors mandated nonrefundable full tuition with one goal only, and that was to profit from students by deferring the brunt of the financial impact of the COVID-19 crisis onto our shoulders. I call for every single UNC system student to sign this petition. It is time for us to stand up for what is right. I also call on Roy Cooper to do the right thing for his state and his constituents. Students in public universities in North Carolina are not getting what we paid for. Join me by signing this petition.