Refusal to Sign Current UNH "Informed Consent Agreement"
The Issue
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is demanding all students sign away our right to a tuition refund should in-person classes transition to online classes, despite the fact that online learning, per UNH's own guidelines, costs approximately half of what in-person learning does. We, the undersigned, will not adhere to this demand.
This petition is in regards to the document entitled “Informed Consent Agreement for Students Participating in On-campus Programming for the Fall Semester,” which was emailed to students on Friday, July 17, 2020 at 9:11 AM with the requirement that it be signed by Friday, July 24, 2020. If it is not signed within this allotted time frame of one week, students will be held in violation of Student Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities, and penalties may include expulsion. There is one pressing point of contention that we, the undersigned, have with the document that precludes our agreement to the Informed Consent document.
The document reads, “Regardless of the learning environment [in-person, online, or a hybrid] for fall 2020, UNH tuition will be the same” (3). Factoring in only tuition and mandatory fees, in-person credit hours cost approximately $1,200 per credit hour ($1,125/hour for undergraduates and $1,250/hour for graduate students). Online education at UNH, as determined by the costs of online courses offered by UNH in previous summer and January semesters, in approximately $600 per credit hour—about half the cost. Therefore, mandating that students pay the full price of in-person education when we may be receiving online education is unjust. It is both cunning and deceitful to require students to sign an agreement to pay the full cost of in-person tuition so that there can be no arguments should classes transition online prior to the previously stated November 20, 2020 date.
Owing to a disparity of approximately half of tuition, we, the undersigned of this petition, demand that the requirement to pay the full cost of in-person tuition even if classes should be online prior to November 20, 2020 be removed from the Informed Consent Agreement before we sign the agreement. Should health concerns mandate that learning at UNH move online before November 20, 2020, we maintain our right to pay for that portion of the semester as per UNH’s online tuition costs of $600/credit hour, as apposed to the in-person cost of $1,200/credit hour (these costs are approximate).
The Issue
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is demanding all students sign away our right to a tuition refund should in-person classes transition to online classes, despite the fact that online learning, per UNH's own guidelines, costs approximately half of what in-person learning does. We, the undersigned, will not adhere to this demand.
This petition is in regards to the document entitled “Informed Consent Agreement for Students Participating in On-campus Programming for the Fall Semester,” which was emailed to students on Friday, July 17, 2020 at 9:11 AM with the requirement that it be signed by Friday, July 24, 2020. If it is not signed within this allotted time frame of one week, students will be held in violation of Student Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities, and penalties may include expulsion. There is one pressing point of contention that we, the undersigned, have with the document that precludes our agreement to the Informed Consent document.
The document reads, “Regardless of the learning environment [in-person, online, or a hybrid] for fall 2020, UNH tuition will be the same” (3). Factoring in only tuition and mandatory fees, in-person credit hours cost approximately $1,200 per credit hour ($1,125/hour for undergraduates and $1,250/hour for graduate students). Online education at UNH, as determined by the costs of online courses offered by UNH in previous summer and January semesters, in approximately $600 per credit hour—about half the cost. Therefore, mandating that students pay the full price of in-person education when we may be receiving online education is unjust. It is both cunning and deceitful to require students to sign an agreement to pay the full cost of in-person tuition so that there can be no arguments should classes transition online prior to the previously stated November 20, 2020 date.
Owing to a disparity of approximately half of tuition, we, the undersigned of this petition, demand that the requirement to pay the full cost of in-person tuition even if classes should be online prior to November 20, 2020 be removed from the Informed Consent Agreement before we sign the agreement. Should health concerns mandate that learning at UNH move online before November 20, 2020, we maintain our right to pay for that portion of the semester as per UNH’s online tuition costs of $600/credit hour, as apposed to the in-person cost of $1,200/credit hour (these costs are approximate).
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Petition created on July 17, 2020