The University of Puget Sound states on their website that they are dedicated to the power of a liberal arts education, “fruitful student-faculty interactions”, and putting students first “as an absolute priority”. With the current plan set in place for the fall semester at UPS, we students believe the University needs to lower tuition in order to honor the needs, well-being, and health of their student body.

The current plan for the fall semester states that the University will hold in-person classes throughout the semester, excluding the weeks after Thanksgiving break, in which classes will be held virtually. With the number of COVID-19 cases rising in Pierce County at an alarming rate, the University’s plan is irresponsible. The University is unable to promise that classes will be in-person up until Thanksgiving break. The administration also has no way of ensuring that in-person classes will be safe for students and faculty. As students, we pay money to attend in-person classes and learn in a classroom environment through full engagement with our peers. The University cannot promise these services in a way that is safe, and it is therefore unfair to charge students the same price. 

The University is not taking responsibility for the health of students and faculty. Instead, they are placing all responsibility onto faculty who have very limited options. Several professors have already communicated that they plan to hold their classes virtually for the entire fall semester. As of right now, Washington is in phase 2 of reopening. Phase 2 prohibits social gatherings of more than 5 individuals. UPS is predicating their entire reopening plan on the state being in phase 3 by the time classes start. Once again, cases are currently rising in Pierce County. The administration is demanding students pay full tuition, without being able to guarantee that students can live safely in dorms and be in classrooms. If the University is unable to deliver the quality of education that they advertise, it is completely unreasonable to expect students to pay full tuition.

The University has shown that it cares more about money than its students and faculty. They are counting on the underfunded health center, CHWS to take care of possible outbreaks of COVID-19. Classes should be held online, but the University knows that if they admit that classes will be online, they will need to lower tuition rates. The demand that students must pay full tuition by August 15th is dishonest and manipulative.

The changes in place this semester will disproportionately affect students who are already marginalized in educational spaces. Students who do not have the resources to learn effectively online will be adversely affected. Many students and their families have recently lost their jobs  that allow them to pay tuition. Maintaining these tuition prices will push them out of higher education. Asking students to pay normal tuition is a choice that actively dismisses inequalities within higher education. 

With the University’s current plan, professors, students, and all campus employees will be in situations of extreme risk this semester. The University needs to recognize the stress and danger that they are potentially creating and respond effectively. As of now, asking students to pay full tuition for a semester filled with uncertainty, stress, and fear is a choice to ignore the difficulties of coronavirus. It is a choice to place more harm and inequalities upon students who are already struggling disproportionately.