"Harvard has joined the list of universities facing legal charges for refusal to refund tuition.
The university’s handling of the pandemic has not satisfied students on an academic or financial level." …
When a college makes sure that about 40% of their student body are privileged, they should not be surprised that many of these are also entitled. When a place like Harvard is selling (literally in some cases) The Elite College Experience, they should not be surprised if some of these “costumers” end unhappy if their “experience” does not match their expectation.
These are the kids of parents who demand to see the manager if their waiter wasn’t fast enough.
They’re also not too different than the people who want to end the shut down because they want to get their hair cut. “I don’t care that people are getting sick and dying, I only care that my Harvard Experience wasn’t what I was promised”.
I have suspicions that the same group that was behind the AstroTurf protests against the shutdowns is also behind a good number of these lawsuits.
@MWolf
From what I read, it seems as though Harvard is not providing some services like tutoring, materials (IDK what this is? Maybe they can’t access some things in the library?), and office hours are limited. So some students are not doing as well academically because of this.
If you pay 11,422 dollars for a semester, you should get 11,422 dollars worth of a semester. That’s like me ordering a steak and complaining to the manager when I get a salad, and then having people tell me not to complain because “at least you get a salad”. Sure, but I ordered a steak.
You reap what you sow…
Harsh. ?
Interesting take on the “value” of education - what people are really paying for. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/scott-galloway-future-of-college.html
I don’t think I’ve seen so many generalizations before in a single reply on here. Tell us more about how you really feel.
In actuality, everyone knows online classes don’t compare to the real thing. These kids worked their asses off to get to Harvard, and yeah they are paying a ton. They chose Harvard to get the best education in the world. So they do deserve better than a zoom lecture.
I don’t know whether your statement about generalizations is supposed to be towards me or MWolf (gonna assume it was toward MWolf), but yeah my reply is how I really feel 
And I agree, whether you pay 10000 a semester or 40000 a semester, whether you go to community college or Harvard, you should get what you pay for. And students paid for classes, office hours, tutoring services, which they’re not receiving.
What you are paying for is Harvard’s logo on your undergraduate. Nobody would be paying $40,000 for Harvard if it was ranked as #200 by USNews.
You are paying for the highest paid professors in the country, who still need to be paid, you are paying for the TAs, who still need to be paid, you are paying for the assorted administrators who have been hired to make sure that you are happy, etc. Even the labs still require most of the upkeep. Harvard’s expenses have not dropped by much just because the students are temporarily not on campus.
Harvard, like every other college, scrambled to do their best when they sent students home. Maybe those students expected the professors to give them personal lectures at home because they are at Hahvahd. The university did its best in the situation.
If you are ordering a steak, and the restaurant burns down halfway through your meal, are you going to sue the restaurant for not running into the fire and saving your meal?
I don’t know what you and those students thought that Harvard should have done in the situation.
It is again this idea that Harvard is some Celestial Education Palace, which provides a Miraculous Education Experience, and would have had a fully set up a personalized virtual experience, or even education in virtual reality, months ahead of the pandemic.
As I wrote - this is entitlement. They attend Harvard, so they think that they “deserve” a better experience than everybody else in the country, no matter what the situation is.
So many generalizations in your response, again. I don’t care whether you are paying 10000 or 1000000000 because of the Harvard name. You and the college agreed that in exchange for tuition, you would get a specific list of services. The students aren’t getting them. The only entitlement here is from people who think the students should just suck it up, as if the money they spent on tuition is just pocket change.
So I don’t get it. It’s not like a pandemic comes around yearly. At my kids school Michigan everything was accessible through their version of zoom. Actually pretty impressive. Did some class’s suck at the start of this. Sure. But after a class or two they got it down. So at Harvard they couldn’t talk to their advisors? No TA or learning services? Email didn’t work? Sorry, I don’t get it. I am reading about the “my experience was less then” no kidding… You didn’t get what you where used to. Part of growing up is about adapting /changing when things are not handed on a silver platter. So they got a Harvard B, instead of a Harvard A… Hope the world doesn’t end. ??.
Could not agree more.
I’ve never seen so much jealousy in a single comment before. They got into Harvard - they DO deserve a better experience.
“Nobody would be paying $40,000 for Harvard if it was ranked as #200 by USNews.”
Have you never heard of the hundreds of private colleges that are ranked 200 and below?
Just reread. So the virtual reality experience is coming. Lol ?. It’s something Michigan is deeply invested in with pilot programs. In a few years this will be part of learning to a deeper degree. Just saying… Lol.
It’s not that they didn’t get what they’re used to, although if you want to think that way you can. It’s that they didn’t get what they payed for. In a couple years I’m sure that colleges will have developed better online learning resources. No question about it. So I agree with you there.
@nomood. So the Harvard students can’t adjust for just one part of a semester???
Both of my kids adjusted at their colleges. This is where I don’t get the complaint. No school in the world plans on having a pandemic then having to exercise their options for teaching. Not one. But I will guarantee you they all have a plan in a book on the top shelf somewhere. My office has one. Ask me the last time I actually read my CDC and OSHA books. Well about January 2020. We reread and train on things that are current for my medical office as a review yearly . Pandemics… Not so much.
So did their professors refuse to answer their questions? Did their entire network go out for weeks so no Zoom classes or instructions? I mean I get it. It sucks but I look at this is that you are on the same team and sometimes you have to pivot.
I am really hoping the students that are this unhappy with Harvard would transfer out to a school that handled this crisis better.
What do you think the chance of that is?
Why can’t Harvard adjust for one semester? Lower tuition a bit? They’re like the College Board, giving superficial exams and expecting to be payed the same amount.
Yes, it does suck. However, Harvard is not the one paying a semesters worth of tuition. The students are.
Finally, I see that you are implying that if the students don’t like how Harvard is handling this, they should transfer to a different college. (If I am wrong and you are NOT implying this, please let me know.) That’s like saying that if you don’t like the President, you can leave the country. What are the chances of that happening?
The “you’re just jealous” argument. That seems to be a go-to ad hominen attack when discussing Harvard.
If you had actually read my post, you would see that I was actually defending Harvard’s behavior and criticizing the people who expected too much. Exactly why you would see this as jealousy is puzzling to me. I mean, shouldn’t I be attacking Harvard if I were jealous? Moreover, what reason would I have to be jealous? I am very happy with the two universities I attended, and I would have actually been unhappy if my daughter were attending Harvard (no, she wasn’t rejected).
OK, so being ranked #300 by USNews. or one of the 1,000 which aren’t ranked. I should also have written $51,000, since that is what Harvard officially charges. Whoopee. My point is that people who are paying top dollar for Harvard are paying for its name and reputation, rather than because of anything else. Whether this would compare to #200 or #500 is irrelevant.
But again, this is another logical fallacy - a Red Herring.
Since you are about to start college, I recommend that you practice making actual points on your arguments, rather than simply using logical fallacies. Your essays will look better, and you will get better grades overall.
Harvard should seize the opportunity. It has the money to refund part of the tuition and I wish it would. It would set a precedent for universities with lower financial resources and create additional pressure in the educational space. You can do this, Harvard!
Of course, I am hoping for a radical restructuring of higher education in the United States. Way too many people in college, too many ridiculous majors, too much superfluous administrative fluff. Let’s see some creative destruction.
I am not here to get into an argument with you
We both have our views. One part of a semester is all I am saying. Yes I said what I said but most of it is tongue in cheek response. If the way they are teaching remains in the summer or fall classes then yes I would agree. But for part of a semester things don’t go as planned why is it the schools fault per se. My son’s engineering finals were online, take home and one question took 6 hours to finish. Learning was continuing to occur on campuses. Again, it might of took a different form then what we are used to at a moments notice.
Again, I assume learning was happening. Professors responded to email or Zoom
My son said some of his tests didn’t translate well to being online, no question about it.
My daughter just graduated from a small Lac. She wasn’t thrilled how the last part of the semester went either. She didn’t feel like she learned to the same degree. She just worked hard on her senior thesis. I asked her if she felt she should get a discount since it didn’t live up to her schools standards (same for my son), they both said they will take any discount but not really. They realize it is what it it is and moved on. Let’s say Harvard did give a discount. Then how much? No one would ever be satisfied.
What they can do is use their resources and skill sets to come up with some enhanced learning hybrid version of educational learning in the fall.
I just don’t see how giving a discount makes anyone feel better or improves what they situation is. I have 2 OOS kids in college (well… One just graduated), so trust me I won’t refuse a discount. I just won’t expect one.