We are thankful for the actions taken by USC to keep the university community healthy and safe. However, we want to ensure that our classmates and their families are not unintentionally harmed as a result of those decisions.

Due to the measures the University of South Carolina has taken against the spread of COVID-19, students and their families have been left with financial losses from housing and meal plan expenses. Therefore, we are calling on the University to offer a partial reimbursement of housing and meal plan costs to students. As we all know, freshmen are required to live in on-campus residence halls and purchase a meal plan. But due to the administration’s decision on March 12 to close these residence halls, these students are no longer getting what they paid for. Instead of a full semester’s worth of housing, they are losing three weeks. If the University is going to take such drastic action, then it should be responsible for reimbursing students for those lost weeks. Of course, if students are not allowed to live on campus, then they cannot use their meal plan, so three weeks worth of meal plan fees should also be refunded as well.

The cost of higher education is already historically high, and keeping the cost of attendance down was one of the reasons why President Caslen was appointed. With South Carolina families facing disease and uncertainty, and with the economy in distress, now is the time to make good on that promise.