Three University of Nebraska campuses have announced a refund policy for students living in dorms on campus following a campus shut down over concerns about the coronavirus.
Tony Rathgeber is the interim director of Residence Life for university housing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He said anyone who moves out of the dorms through March 24th will receive a 60-percent refund for any charges incurred for their room and board from March 15th through the end of this semester. Rathgeber said it’s the right thing to do.
“It shows our commitment and dedication to a positive student experience here,” Rathgeber said. “We care about every single Husker student that is part of our community, and we need to do what's right and fair to them. A lot of people across campus at various levels worked really diligently to try to put together what we felt was a fair refund policy in light of what are pretty unprecedented challenges that we're all facing right now.”
Rathgeber said there are some students who will stay in the dorms, for example, homeless students or students who live in other states. Also many international students are sticking around during the shut-down. Rathgeber said in many cases, UNL is all they know in this country
“We're home (for them) and many of them at this point probably aren't able to travel to their home country even if they wanted to,” Rathgeber said. “So we're home and we're going to stay open and serve those students.”
As of Tuesday, 1,850 students have checked out of dorms since March 12th and will be eligible for the refunds. The University of Nebraska-Kearney and the University of Nebraska at Omaha have both offered students the same refunds as UNL: 60-percent off room and board if they leave campus by March 24th.
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