LIU, Pace Students Sue For Reimbursement Of Tuition, Housing

College students from Long Island University and Pace University have filed federal lawsuits against their respective schools arguing that both schools have not adequately refunded or reimbursed students and other fees they paid to attend in-person classes after they were shifted to online studies following the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Both LIU and Pace are private institutions and have not, according to the lawsuits, made adjustments in their fee structure to accommodate the fact that students are not attending classes on campus and that they do not have access to professors, meals and social interaction, the lawsuits state, according to published reports.

LIU student Nicholas Irizarry filed his class action lawsuit on April 21 and is, according to reports, seeking refunds because his educational experience was dramatically changed once the coronavirus pandemic forced in-person classes at LIU to be canceled. According to the suit, Irizarry paid more than $21,000 in tuition and fees to the school and has not been reimbursed.

The school’s website does not make mention of any reimbursement of fees and students are scheduled to pay $37,182 in tuition, $14,664 in housing and nearly $2,000 in fees in the fall.

Meanwhile, Pace student Xaviera Marbury filed her lawsuit against the university on April 23 and claimed that the school has not offered reimbursement for class tuition, housing, meals and other costs. In her lawsuit, Marbury stated that the $2,000 refund Pace is offering to its students attending its New York campus and the $1,600 for students attending campuses in Pleasantville and Haub Law is both arbitrary and inadequate.

Marbury said she was charged $9,380 for dorm rent for the semester, which began in late January and was scheduled to run through May 16. Marbury said she left campus on March 11.