The decision to extend online learning at WVWC on August 26th was made by the Wesleyan board of trustees, seemingly without taking the opinions of the student body into consideration. Students voiced their opinions in an approximately 5 hour long town hall Zoom meeting where a few of the board members were present, but failed to adequately respond to the genuine concerns and suggestions the student body had. When answering questions, students' more long winded questions were cut short and were answered with vague responses, leaving us still in the dark about where the board stood in terms of their decision to have the students return to campus. One thing president Thierstein made clear was that the only fee that would be returned to students was housing. Tuition and other fees are not to be adjusted for the online semester. This needs to be changed. 

As a private college with the most expensive total cost in the state, Wesleyan's tuition alone is $15,527 for a normal semester ($31,074 tuition shown on the Wesleyan website divided in half for the price of one semester). This does not include room and board, a $50 student activity fee, a $97 technology fee, and an $442 general fee. The total cost of attendance to Wesleyan for an on campus student with double occupancy housing and a 14 meal per week meal plan for one semester is $20,914 (all prices found on the WVWC website and cut in half for the price of one semester rather than one academic year). This does not include lab fees, books, and online programs used for homework (chem21 for example). Although Dr. Thierstein expressed that the activity fee would be met by having virtual activities for all the students on campus, the students believe that those online activities are doing little to give them the real "college experience" and are merely an easy way to satisfy the realm of activity in order to charge each member of the student body an extra $50 fee. 

The board of trustees seems to believe that online learning gives all students the same quality of education as an in-person instruction would. This is simply not the case for many students at Wesleyan. If students felt they learned with the same quality online, it seems only reasonable that they would enroll in an online college, saving them thousands of dollars in tuition. To add onto that- the cost of online college is far lower than in-person classes. For example, according to their website, WVU online classes cost $369-$514 per credit hour. Taking a full time load of classes (16 hours for example), this price range would end up being $5,904-$8,224 for one semester of online college. Taking Wesleyan’s $15,527 tuition for a semester in comparison, there is a pretty extreme difference. U.S. News states that the price range for an online bachelor's degree ranges from $38,496 to $60,593 in total program tuition cost. U.S. news also states that the average tuition for a private online college is $60,593. That's $7,574.13 a semester for an 8 semester program. Wesleyan expects students to pay over double that price this semester. 

The argument made by board members in the town hall meeting was that taking classes through Zoom is an adequate replacement for in class learning, and therefore sets our classes apart from regular online classes. This does not take into consideration those international students who will struggle to meet over Zoom due to time zone differences, those who have poor WiFi connection in their home and cannot access a stable Zoom call, as well as those who must work now that they are not living on campus. This also does not take into consideration students who may be living in a toxic or distracting home environment, who are unable to focus or learn effectively in their homes. Likewise, some Wesleyan professors have even decided against only teaching on Zoom, and instead are posting lecture powerpoints, similar to the structure of an online college. Those who have chosen this method are using their scheduled class time as a substitution for in-person office hours. Students who did not plan for an online semester and are not adequately prepared for the difference in learning should not be forced to pay such an expensive tuition to attend school in a way that is inconvenient to them. 

Wesleyan admissions set the date for payment of students’ bills before a decision was made about the return to campus. In the students' best interest, this due date should've been pushed back until a final decision was made in order to allow them to make their own decision about the future of their education as well as their financial situation. Students who wanted to attend college on-campus could have transferred last minute to a college or university with a concrete plan of returning for in-person classes, and students who were in favor of online classes could have looked into other online programs that would save them thousands of dollars over the semester. Instead, students were forced to pay their tuition 26 days prior to a final decision about the style of learning that would be implemented this semester. Whether or not one chooses to believe this was an intentional way to keep enrollment in the college steady, it seems relatively apparent that it was not a decision made in the best interest of the students. At the very least, the $375 late fee should've been waived, allowing students that were on the fence about their decision to stay enrolled the time to make that serious choice. 

Although the board of trustees feels online learning is the safest way to keep students safe during these uncertain times, it seems that they have failed to understand the wants and needs of the student body as a whole, and completely have disregarded our opinions on the outrageous price of tuition for an online semester, along with other fees required for enrollment in the college. There is no argument that the overwhelming majority of the student body of West Virginia Wesleyan deeply appreciates the college for the amazing experiences, friendships and quality education that they have been able to experience in semesters prior. On the other hand, we believe that the fall semester will be extremely difficult to manage and isn’t worth the price we’re paying. This decision for online learning went against what many students had hoped for, and will absolutely not be the same as attending WVWC in person. If that is the case with our education, that should also be the case with the price of attendance.