Following the global outbreak of COVID-19 this past spring, higher education's abrupt transition to online learning sparked widespread concern that students did not receive the quality academic experience, services and activities they paid for with their tuition dollars and student fees.
This fall, many colleges and universities across the country are planning to continue providing only online instruction or a hybrid of online and in-person instruction. Yet, very few institutions have announced a willingness to discount tuition or fees.
Championed by Partners for College Affordability and Public Trust, the Tuition Payer Bill of Rights™ is a series of long-overdue consumer protections that, among other fundamental rights, will ensure that consumers either get what they pay for or a refund. Along with the initiative’s coalition partners, Partners believes students should not have to pay the same price for lesser quality instruction or be required to pay for on-campus services they aren’t able – or don’t want – to use.
Widespread support for and adoption of the Tuition Payer Bill of Rights™ will serve to safeguard consumers’ considerable investments into higher education and will help to restore confidence in the choices students and families face in the future.
Join our broad coalition of students, parents, college alumni, concerned citizens, and advocacy organizations in a national movement supporting the enactment of the Tuition Payer Bill of Rights™! By signing this petition, we can send a unified message to higher ed policy makers urging them to provide basic consumer rights to students and families who foot the bill in higher education.
This fall, students and family consumers should ask these important questions to ensure that they are informed and that their investment in higher education is protected.
With the help of our coalition partners, we will build a strong national movement that permanently tips the scales towards students and families through institutional changes.
If your organization is interested in supporting the Tuition Payer Bill of Rights™ as a coalition partner, please email Stacie Gordon at stacie@pcapt.org.
100% of your donation will go towards our efforts to promote the adoption of the Tuition Payer Bill of Rights™ at colleges and universities across the nation.
We cannot do this without you!
Read the latest news updates on relevant topics related to the Tuition Payer Bill of Rights™, including college refunds, tuition increases/reductions, consumer rights in higher education, proportionate student fees, cost transparency, campus or system-wide student petitions, and more!
State lawmakers are looking at ways to throw a life preserver to colleges left staggered by the coronavirus pandemic. State lawmakers are looking...KEEP READING...
New England is famous for its private non-profit colleges with several of the top 100 colleges located here. But in face of the health and economic...KEEP READING...
A month later, the Partners for College Affordability and Public Trust launched the Tuition Payer Bill of Rights, which argues that students have...KEEP READING...
James Madison University agreed late Friday to provide live online video of its board of visitors meeting next week, responding to pressure from ad...KEEP READING...
In response, an organization called Partners for College Affordability and Public Trust has drafted a tuition payer “Bill of Rights” where Article...KEEP READING...
[...] and there’s now a tuition payer “Bill of Rights” where Article 1 is “the right to receive the full benefits owed to students through payment...KEEP READING...
Four COVID-19 outbreaks reported last week at UNC Chapel Hill won’t shut down the flagship university campus. Yet. Officials are dealing with the...KEEP READING...
A coalition of advocacy groups and think tanks is pushing a series of consumer protections aiming to help students understand the price of college...KEEP READING...
A coalition of higher education reform organizations, led by Partners for College Affordability and Public Trust, came out with a “Tuition Payer Bi...KEEP READING...
College students should be reimbursed if they don’t receive the full benefits they pay for in tuition, fees, room, and board, declares the Partners...KEEP READING...
Several organizations on Wednesday collectively announced the national launch of the “Tuition Payer Bill of Rights,” a consumer protection initiati...KEEP READING...
Many consumer protection laws make sure that if people don’t receive what they paid for, they get their money back. Should that apply to higher edu...KEEP READING...
College and university students deserve a range of guaranteed consumer protections, according to a Tuition Payer Bill of Rights released Wednesday...KEEP READING...
Partners for College Affordability and Public Trust (Partners) coalition is calling for a “Tuition Payer Bill of Rights” that would constitute a se...KEEP READING...
Students around the country have started to sign petitions, demanding colleges reduce tuition costs amid the pandemic. A recent survey by OneClass....KEEP READING...
As University of Wisconsin System students grapple with the realization that most of their classes will again be online this fall, many hold out ho...KEEP READING...
The University of Michigan doesn't owe students any refunds for switching to online instruction in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely bec...KEEP READING...
When Laura Comino opened the housing email from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in June, she knew she had to take action. At the di...KEEP READING...
Two Kansas State University graduates have filed a class action lawsuit against the school, claiming they did not get the education they paid for w...KEEP READING...
Dine College wants students to go back to college for the fall semester and work on getting their degree. The college is offering a 50-percent tuit...KEEP READING...
Headlines, especially of late, can be controversial. The alleged pending death of higher education has been recent headline fodder, including “The ...KEEP READING...
Kansas State won’t refund tuition if all classes return to distance education partway through the semester “since students are able to make progres...KEEP READING...
College costs a lot – that’s a known fact. At the University of Utah, the average resident student could pay well over $20,000-$30,000 a year for e...KEEP READING...
With the coronavirus pandemic causing colleges and universities around the country, and in Texas, to move online in the Fall 2020 semester, student...KEEP READING...
Frustrated by Elon University not promising to lower tuition costs if the school is forced to turn to remote learning, Elon students have started a...KEEP READING...
A single-question survey of more than 17,000 incoming college students across the United States and Canada has found that students believe online c...KEEP READING...
In consideration of the reduced value of remote learning and new financial hardships caused by this pandemic, the University of Minnesota must sign...KEEP READING...
The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally restructured higher education for at least the next semester. Come fall, many college students are yet agai...KEEP READING...
About 3,000 people have signed a petition calling on Towson University to refund a mandatory $499 athletics fee now that the university has suspend...KEEP READING...
Students at Grand Valley State University have started an online petition to protest the school’s recent 3% increase in tuition. The change will co...KEEP READING...
Ivy League and other schools are turning to Big Law to defend against a flood of coronavirus-fueled lawsuits that seek millions in refunds of tuiti...KEEP READING...
College students on Long Island are concerned that their room and board in the fall semester won't come with a refund in the age of the coronavirus...KEEP READING...
This won’t be a regular semester, and colleges shouldn’t charge a regular price. The first day of online classes, in March, turned administrators i...KEEP READING...
They can offer discounts for online classes and take a hit to the bottom line, or they can stick with full tuition and still probably take a hit to...KEEP READING...
Paul Quinn College serves more than 500 students. In a statement, university President Michael Sorrell announced measures it would take to appease...KEEP READING...
Colleges around the country are beginning to tell students not to expect a refund for housing expenses if the pandemic forces another spate of abru...KEEP READING...
Universities across the country have written addendums into their residence-life contracts specifying that refunds will not be issued if a Covid-19...KEEP READING...
WSU updated its housing policy, which originally told students it would not refund housing costs should the coronavirus cause another school shutdo...KEEP READING...
Students at two of Lancaster County’s largest colleges are calling for tuition discounts in the fall as many classes shift online due to the coronavirKEEP READING...
With the number of COVID-19 cases skyrocketing again around the country, college students are facing the prospect of taking most, if not all, of th...KEEP READING...
Some universities are taking steps to keep their budgets intact in case of closures in the fall. And they’re doing so at the cost of their students...KEEP READING...
Utah’s public colleges are frequently charging fees for services that students don’t use — and increases get approved each year with little or no i...KEEP READING...
Williams College's upcoming tuition discounts could signal similar cost reductions ahead for students enrolled at other schools, some higher educat...KEEP READING...
Williams College, one of the country’s most prestigious liberal arts colleges, announced today it will reduce by 15% its “comprehensive fee,” which...KEEP READING...
If you want to, you can volunteer to pay the same amount and get less. Rowan University is putting a much different spin than that on its new, pand...KEEP READING...
Some colleges provide detailed lists of transportation, housing and other indirect expenses, while others provide nothing. Without clear informatio...KEEP READING...
The North Carolina legislature passed a bill Thursday that provides immunity for colleges and universities for legal claims related to COVID-19 clo...KEEP READING...
While most college students say their institution has responded well to the coronavirus, a majority don’t want to pay full tuition if all of their...KEEP READING...
When students at UNC-Greensboro and Western Carolina University started getting their new on-campus housing contracts this week, something jumped o...KEEP READING...
The University of Michigan doesn't owe students any refunds for switching to online instruction in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely bec...KEEP READING...
At least 60 colleges and universities across the country, and perhaps as many as 100 or more, are now being sued by students who believe they were...KEEP READING...
Some student fees assessed by Utah’s public college and universities don’t meet the “reasonable test.” That’s the conclusion of a new audit release...KEEP READING...
South Florida announced earlier this month that in order to move onto campus, students must agree to an addendum to the college's housing contract...KEEP READING...
Louisiana colleges are returning at least $24 million to students because the academic year was interrupted by the coronavirus outbreak. LSU is dol...KEEP READING...
This spring many colleges announced tuition deals for students in response to the pandemic, and they’re seeing it pay off with growing application...KEEP READING...
Thirty-three percent of high school seniors say they would defer or cancel an admittance rather than attend an all-online college. Plus results fro...KEEP READING...
Last month, universities nationwide asked students to leave campus to limit the spread of the coronavirus. But several weeks into remote instructio...KEEP READING...
For undergraduates studying at home amid the coronavirus pandemic, college isn’t what it used to be. However, it costs just the same. While a numbe...KEEP READING...
If you didn’t get what you paid for, and the thing you bought cost five figures, it stands to reason that you’d get some of your money back. But th...KEEP READING...
College students say the online instruction they're getting in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic is not the education for which they paid. Some...KEEP READING...
College students say the online instruction they're getting in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic is not the education for which they paid. Some...KEEP READING...
As colleges and universities nationwide shut down dorms and dining halls, cancel athletic events and commencements and shift to remote instruction...KEEP READING...
Learn more about the issue to better inform your advocacy efforts!