UW students seek tuition refunds in lawsuit tied to pandemic closures

Abby Adelman paid $51,531 in tuition and fees to the University of Washington to spend five to six hours in Zoom classes per week sitting in her apartment on 47th street in the U District. 

She couldn’t go study at the library, and, despite paying laboratory fees as a biology major, she couldn’t access any labs. She’s frustrated that she had to pay for upkeep on a campus she couldn’t visit for most of the final year and half of her undergraduate studies.

“I’m not someone who really learns online so I felt like I went through the motions every day, did what I had to do,” Adelman said. 

A class of students is suing the university for administrators’ decision to charge full tuition and fees during the pandemic despite closing campuses. Two years after her graduation, Adelman is eligible to be part of the class. 

On June 28, a King County judge overseeing the lawsuit certified the class of students, which could include as many as 50,000, recognizing that the claims the students have made fulfill the legal requirements to do so as a collective, said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, the firm representing the case.

“UW has tried to fight these claims at every turn, filing multiple motions to dismiss the lawsuit and a motion in opposition of this class certification — but the court has spoken,” Berman said in a statement. 

The lawsuit will proceed as a class action and the certification is “encouragement to students and former students who seek reimbursement,” Berman said. 

The complaint was originally filed at the start of the 2020 school year and accuses the university of retaining tuition payments amounting to millions of dollars despite students only being able to learn online.

Victor Balta, a spokesperson for the university, said UW leaders do not believe the lawsuit has merit and they look forward to making their case in court. 

UW shifted in-person classes online in early March 2020 as the coronavirus was rapidly spreading. 

By April 2020, Gov. Jay Inslee had ordered all private and public K-12 schools to close. He didn’t include colleges, but all six of Washington’s public four-year higher education institutions had already announced that classes would remain online through the end of the school year. The state’s community colleges and most private colleges did the same.

Most classes remained online for the entirety of the fall 2020 to spring 2021 school year.

Balta said UW “actually increased its investment in educational costs during the period,” that course evaluations were “overwhelmingly positive” despite the move to online, and that the university had warned students that classes would be online before classes started.

The university bought enhanced Zoom licenses so students and professors could use the platform without the time limits of the free version, along with Panopto, a video lecture platform, and training and IT support for these technologies. It also packed and shipped laptops to students to use on loan, bought COVID-19 tests and personal protective equipment and incurred costs associated with keeping Hall Health Center, the student health facility, up and running, Balta said.

“Our goal is to provide a high-quality education in a safe and secure environment,” Balta said, “and we believe we accomplished this in light of a global pandemic.”

Adelman, who was not part of the lawsuit originally but could receive benefits if a settlement is reached, was encouraged to hear about the certification of the class action. But she said a lot of her frustration has faded away in the past two years and has instead turned into sadness.

“Now I think a lot of the sadness is that I missed out on a lot of a college experience because all the things you can do weren’t open,” Adelman said. She has now returned to her home state, Arizona, and is pursuing a doctor of physical therapy degree at Northern Arizona University. 

Adelman believes she and her peers should have received reduced tuition prices during the pandemic, and that if the university was going to charge building fees, it should have offered on-campus study options with proper safety measures. She said she also would have been interested in attending small classes in person, too. 

The class-action lawsuit isn’t unique. Similar cases have been filed around the country by students who feel they were overcharged for a limited college experience.