There will be no tuition increase for the 2020-2021 academic year, according to a university-wide email sent by the President and Provost’s office on April 5. This information comes after Michelle Relyea, Interim Chief Enrollment and Success Officer, announced a 3.84% tuition increase in an email sent on March 24.
“We believe this is an appropriate step at a time when any increase in costs would exacerbate economic challenges that many of our students and their families are facing,” read the April 5 email. “Our fundamental goal is to help students arrive at The New School, thrive at The New School, and graduate from The New School.” This email marks the first signature from both President David Van Zandt and President-Elect Dwight A. McBride.
The university also announced students would be allowed to register for classes regardless of account holds, no late payment fees for students who miss their March, April, or May payment plans, and students should pay what they can on their own time, according to an email sent out by Relyea on April 4.
The March 24 email stated that standard tuition refunds would follow protocol according to “established policies.” According to policy, any classes that have been dropped or withdrawn between February 23 to May 11 would not be refunded.
“For the spring 2020 semester, all of the tuition The New School has collected is committed to paying our faculty and staff through this period,” said Amy Malsin, a university spokesperson, in an email to the New School Free Press. “Refunding tuition would result in an interruption of every student’s academic progress, because it would significantly compromise our ability to retain the faculty and staff that are critical to delivering education.”
For residential students who have left campus, residence hall and meal plans will be refunded, on a prorated basis, in “approximately 8-10 weeks,” according to Relyea’s email.
The Office of Student Success at The New School organized “the Student Emergency Assistance Program (SEAP) to provide currently enrolled students experiencing acute financial distress with “one-time financial assistance” according to a Google Form for the SEAP.
Students have been taking steps to ask for partial refund.
A Change.org petition was started on March 16 by an anonymous user with the username “New School Students,” asking The New School to partially refund its students, saying of the online classes that “students will not be receiving the modes of instruction, access to campus resources, or living accommodations they initially paid for and have grown to rely on.” (Many similar petitions asking for tuition refunds have been made to other colleges across the country, including New York University, the University of Cincinnati, and Columbus College of Art and Design.)
Julia McGillicuddy, a fourth-year communication design student, requested Van Zandt $25,000 on the Venmo app for the tuition she has paid for her final semester. McGillicuddy posted a screenshot of the request on her personal Instagram account.
“A lot of this comes from deep rooted frustration.” McGillicuddy said. She has been tagging The New School, Parsons, and David Van Zant on social media platforms with concerns regarding tuition.
“It’s the right thing to do,” said Gregory Goldstein, a second-year Parsons student, when asked why he signed the petition. Goldstein had flown back home to Los Angeles when The New School closed their campus.
“They owe it to people to give us some help, because we have all these other new costs. Like, I’m not moved out of my [off-campus] apartment. I have to go back there now, as soon as the airport opens back up.”
Kessa Mefford, a second-year Masters student at Mannes, who also signed the petition, felt similarly, saying that she was primarily attending The New School to “make connections, and get opportunities, and build a community. And that’s what I’ve always been going to Mannes for. But with the situation as it is, we’re just not getting what we paid for.”
Since The New School’s decision not to refund any part of tuition money to students, another group of New School students have drafted a tuition refund letter for students to send out to members of The New School administration requesting a full refund of tuition.
This document is collaborative and might be subject to change by the authors. The Free Press is reporting on the latest version, updated April 6.
“We use studios, and we use printing resources, and we use all that at school,” said Hee Eun Chung, a 20-year-old second-year Parsons student, who helped draft the letter. “Not having access to resources, it really limits us and what we can do. It also puts like low income students at a disadvantage.”
“By not supporting its students, this institution is upholding the oppressive systems at place, not only in times such as these, but IN ALL TIMES,” the letter reads.
“The university claims that it wants students to be “critically engaged citizens” and “dedicated to solving problems and contributing to the public good,”” it continues. “[B]ut how can we do this when our own university does not do the same?”