Lawsuit targets Point Park University for forced-online spring semester

Four undergraduate students at Point Park University are suing the school, claiming that they are entitled to refunds for a subpar education in the spring when classes moved from in-person instruction to remote learning because of the covid-19 pandemic.

The lawsuit includes claims for breach of contract and unjust enrichment and was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.

“The online learning options being offered to the university’s students are sub-par in practically every aspect as compared to what the educational experience afforded plaintiffs and the members of the class once was,” the lawsuit said.

While some classes in the spring used recorded lectures that were posted online and others used virtual Zoom class meeting, the lawsuit alleges that “[s]ome classes, however, stopped providing any instruction whatsoever and only required minimal assignments to be turned in prior to the end of the semester.”

Point Park spokesman Lou Corsaro said the university does not generally comment on pending lawsuits.

“However, university faculty, staff and administration have worked tirelessly to ensure a quality education for all of its students,” he said. “The global pandemic has presented many challenges. In early March, when Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all non-life-sustaining businesses in the commonwealth to close, Point Park transitioned all instruction from on campus to fully remote in a matter of days, while also completing the delivery of all credits for its students.”

The students who filed the complaint, Rafael Figueroa, Kahlil Cable, Ty’Anthony Scott and Ryan Petty, have asked that the case proceed as a class action, seeking to represent anyone “who paid tuition, housing (if living on campus), and/or fees to attend Point Park University for an in-person, hands-on education for the spring 2020 semester and had their course work moved to online learning.”

During the last school year, Point Park had approximately 4,000 students.

The complaint contends that the university, which touts in its marketing the benefits of living on-campus and being Downtown, did not refund any tuition money even though it canceled in-person classes on March 13. It did not refund students fees, either, the suit claims, even though the university stopped providing the services and facilities covered by those.

Students who left campus housing before March 27 were given a prorated refund, the lawsuit said, but those who left after that date were not.

According to the complaint, if the plaintiffs wanted an online education, that’s what they would have enrolled in.

Full-time tuition at Point Park in the spring cost $15,590 per semester for the schools of arts and sciences, business, communication and education; and $19,870 for the Conservatory of Performing Arts. In addition to tuition, students also paid $895 in fees.

For in-person learning, most undergraduate classes cost $878 per credit. Online classes, the lawsuit said, cost $480 per credit.

The lawsuit notes that Point Park discounted its summer semester, which was also virtual, charging the same fees as online programming costs.

Several universities that had to switch to online only in the spring provided a 10% refund of tuition, including Northwestern, Georgetown, Princeton, American and Johns Hopkins, the complaint said.