Investors should step in and pay the kids off (since these lawsuits are either guaranteed losers or will take years to settle). Then in exchange take a % of their future earnings. Vary the % and timeline based on the degree they're seeking.
Colleges face student lawsuits seeking refunds after coronavirus closures
11–20 of 238 posts
Re: Colleges face student lawsuits seeking refunds after coronavirus closures
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
> in a lot of cases the money has already been spent Then they can take out loans or go bankrupt. I mean, if you paid for a Ferrari and the car dealer can only give you a Corolla, they owe you a refund - irrespective of how big their rent and salary bills may be.
If they were forced to choose between going bankrupt and having traditional in-person classes, they would be offering in-person classes right now and allowing people to “opt-out” to the remote version. These companies aren’t arbitrarily choosing to educate people remotely. They’re adapting to the situation. Likewise, it would be unreasonable for employers to cut people’s compensation for working remotely under the as…
Salary is governed by contract. People get pay cuts all the time.
Re: Colleges face student lawsuits seeking refunds after coronavirus closures
#13Investors should step in and pay the kids off (since these lawsuits are either guaranteed losers or will take years to settle). Then in exchange take a % of their future earnings. Vary the % and timeline based on the degree they're seeking.
This is indentured servitude, and expressly forbidden in the United States.
Re: Colleges face student lawsuits seeking refunds after coronavirus closures
#14This is just the straw that is popping the college bubble. My Alma mater has 15 administrators who make 2-3x more than the President did when I graduated. The President makes $5 million+. The VP/Dean of HR makes > $1 million. Administrators took a 5% pay cut. Lots of professors are furloughed or laid off. The school did all kinds of shenanigans to hang onto as much tuition/board/food money as they could. Students are…
Is it private or public
Re: Colleges face student lawsuits seeking refunds after coronavirus closures
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
> in a lot of cases the money has already been spent Then they can take out loans or go bankrupt. I mean, if you paid for a Ferrari and the car dealer can only give you a Corolla, they owe you a refund - irrespective of how big their rent and salary bills may be.
If they were forced to choose between going bankrupt and having traditional in-person classes, they would be offering in-person classes right now and allowing people to “opt-out” to the remote version. These companies aren’t arbitrarily choosing to educate people remotely. They’re adapting to the situation. Likewise, it would be unreasonable for employers to cut people’s compensation for working remotely under the as…
> These companies aren’t arbitrarily choosing to educate people remotely. They’re adapting to the situation.
That doesn't really matter though. Like, it sucks, but they're giving a much shittier product and charging full price. Your example about people being less productive is not relevant because there's no doubt that the quality of education is much worse.
Re: Colleges face student lawsuits seeking refunds after coronavirus closures
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
> in a lot of cases the money has already been spent Then they can take out loans or go bankrupt. I mean, if you paid for a Ferrari and the car dealer can only give you a Corolla, they owe you a refund - irrespective of how big their rent and salary bills may be.
If they were forced to choose between going bankrupt and having traditional in-person classes, they would be offering in-person classes right now and allowing people to “opt-out” to the remote version. These companies aren’t arbitrarily choosing to educate people remotely. They’re adapting to the situation. Likewise, it would be unreasonable for employers to cut people’s compensation for working remotely under the as…
And maybe a car dealer couldn't deliver your Ferrari due to difficult circumstances beyond their control, and giving you a Corolla is the best they can adapt to the situation.
But they're still only delivering a Corolla so you don't have to pay the price of the Ferrari they promised you
Re: Colleges face student lawsuits seeking refunds after coronavirus closures
#17Investors should step in and pay the kids off (since these lawsuits are either guaranteed losers or will take years to settle). Then in exchange take a % of their future earnings. Vary the % and timeline based on the degree they're seeking.
This is indentured servitude, and expressly forbidden in the United States.
This is not indentured servitude and such agreements are actively used today.
(Though it is still a terrible solution)
Re: Colleges face student lawsuits seeking refunds after coronavirus closures
#18> "In my personal opinion, I can deliver the same quality of education online as I could in person."
Although this statement is debatable to begin with, it also misses a huge point. Even if the quality of an online education is the same, many students cannot learn as anywhere near as well in that environment. They paid tens of thousands of dollars for in-person learning, so for that to be replaced with something entirely different in form really sucks.
Re: Colleges face student lawsuits seeking refunds after coronavirus closures
#19This is just the straw that is popping the college bubble. My Alma mater has 15 administrators who make 2-3x more than the President did when I graduated. The President makes $5 million+. The VP/Dean of HR makes > $1 million. Administrators took a 5% pay cut. Lots of professors are furloughed or laid off. The school did all kinds of shenanigans to hang onto as much tuition/board/food money as they could. Students are…
Is it private or public
It's probably public since he knows their salaries. you can get a hold of most college employee salaries through state ran databases.
Re: Colleges face student lawsuits seeking refunds after coronavirus closures
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they were forced to choose between going bankrupt and having traditional in-person classes, they would be offering in-person classes right now and allowing people to “opt-out” to the remote version. These companies aren’t arbitrarily choosing to educate people remotely. They’re adapting to the situation. Likewise, it would be unreasonable for employers to cut people’s compensation for working remotely under the as…
And maybe a car dealer couldn't deliver your Ferrari due to difficult circumstances beyond their control, and giving you a Corolla is the best they can adapt to the situation. But they're still only delivering a Corolla so you don't have to pay the price of the Ferrari they promised you
But you’re not car shopping and this isn’t a Ferrari vs. Corolla scenario.
If you read the article, you’ll see that the Universities did give partial refunds. These students are demanding even more refunds, while still collecting the education.
The education is still delivered, just through a different medium. If we believe that engineers can work just as effectively remotely, why can’t we believe that educators and educate just as effectively remotely? It feels like HN is picking and choosing when remote is good vs. bad based on how it personally benefits the commenter.