Covid claims against unis

[UniTO]

This isn't going to affect my institution as we were one of the few doing in person lectures for a fair chunk of the pandemic and I do know some stayed online longer than they should have done but can't help thinking this is going to break some institutions.

The students claiming uni Covid compensation 'for the principle' - BBC News https://share.google/zeZ5tzk6CrZuKQVGp

I know government schemes were helping the economy out but the amount of fraud that went on (PPE scandals etc) ...there could have been a governmental intervention to reduce student fees perhaps?

Some of the comments in that article are hard to take. The girl stuck at her grandparents house with no WiFi .. that's not the university's fault. Maybe she should have withdrawn and returned later. I am a lecturer who has ended up with long term health issues from the pandemic. It was extremely difficult..I caught covid at least once from students who didn't test, who were (understandably) mixing and doing the things young people do.

I sympathise with students but it was shit for everyone. I don't know that unis should bear the cost of refunds here. What do you think?

It’s difficult one isn’t it because as I said before my son was affected and got basically next to sod all that he paid for plus 3 months’on strike’ on top - so yep I do totally understand how he feels, but I also understand it wasn’t easy for the university’s too in this situation - I personally do think everyone who was a student at that time should get a 50% rebate on a years fees but think it would have to be a government initiative.

I agree

pp said open university is only 20-30% cheaper (I haven’t checked this) because the face to face teaching costs are only a small part of a university’s costs per student. Yes there was a big students as there was on all young people in lockdown, but universities didn’t save much if any money, and some will go under if there are large claims. It’s not at all the same as running a gym as you couldn’t go and use the weights, and there was government support for businesses. Would be more similar to Pilates classes going online where you are still getting much of the experience.

I think it’s an easy shot and a poor argument to attack pps as privileged and not understanding current student finances. Many pps who are old enough to have had lower fees themselves will have DC in affected cohort and are well aware of the tough time young people had and are having. And I specifically said this in my earlier post. Also this is in academic common room I think so many pps will have worked insanely hard to support students along with all the other aspects of an academic job.
We considered encouraging DC to sue on a specific couple of points at the time (re specific administrative failure of online assessment) but they didn’t want to. The current claims are far too general . I do know that on some courses at RG unis they stayed online too long but it all needs to be more specific and relate to specific failures within a university’s remit and show related harm and the claims should be for a commensurate amount.

@Thedaysaregettinglongeryay it is also a poor shot to attack posters for being privileged and unaware because this is the board for academics who work in universities and are very aware of the challenges for students and staff alike.

This happens when something appears in active but I started the thread and put it here to ask opinions of other colleagues in universities, not so much miffed parents. Some of us are also parents though.

@Waitinggame42023 yep as per my previous post - I’m not sure who should pay but I do know I would be very miffed ( as is my son) on having a ton of debt for a service that wasn’t delivered . In his unis case, 3 months on strike too . It was all so crap he ended up giving up and going back into work - luckily he had a career to go back into as he was a mature student (21) - if it was all free with just maybe a maintenance loan then it’s different - but it isn’t £10k or so a year to get next to nothing from it wouldn’t hold mustard in commercial world- you would be sued for a refund

surely the universities are protected as they were simply following the law and doing their best under circumstances that were difficult for every single person in the country. Do people think university staff shouldn’t have been paid or their bills paid? Fees just contribute to the running costs of universities and although they are very very burdensome for the student they actually don’t even cover the costs universities face. It was just terrible time with so many casualties across all walks of life. There is no way any university that did a sensible job of following the law should be penalised for that.

The law part ended before some of them returned to in person teaching. Hence the issue.

I feel for those doing practical subjects where they couldn’t access labs or specialised equipment , language students who missed their year abroad , mainly experiences which couldnt be gained from online teaching . Not all degrees were the same in that respect .
im not sure what the right thing is for students like that , I feel for both sides.