ASU Urging Dorm Residents To Move Out, Offering $1,500 Credit
Arizona State University is offering on-campus students a $1,500 nonrefundable credit to move out of their dorms by April 15.
ASU’s student newspaper, the State Press, first reported Thursday that university’s housing department sent an email asking residents who have other reasonable housing accommodations to move out to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Students who moved out of their dorms prior to this announcement are also eligible for the credit.
“After careful consideration of all of the unique circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, ASU will apply a $1,500 credit to the student account for all eligible students who have moved out of university housing by April 15,” the university said in a statement to KJZZ. “University housing will remain open for those students who need to stay and all essential services will continue to be provided to them.”
The price for a typical dorm at various ASU campuses ranges from $2,145 to $7,250. Meal plans are mandatory for on-campus students and range from $1,105 to $3,415.
Sophomore Eric Peterson studies computer science at ASU and runs the Refund ASU Students Twitter page. He pays about $4,600 for his dorm room at the Barrett Honors Complex, and an additional $3,500 for his meals. He created an algorithm using ASU financial aid data and calculates that the average student pays $71.32 daily for their dorm, meals and parking.
Under Peterson's calculations, the total cost from March 15, the end of ASU’s spring break, to May 8, the last day of the semester would be $3,922.86.
The new @ASU housing credit Is NOT a fair deal! This credit will only cover 40% of the average ASU students' costs. Tell @michaelcrow we deserve better! @abc15 @FOX10Phoenix @AZRegents pic.twitter.com/eAeXd8rVAK
— Refund ASU Students (@AsuRefund) April 2, 2020
“Fifteen hundred dollars — if you consider how much the average student is going to pay for the whole time that they have been in remote learning — that’s about 40% of the total put on students,” Peterson said. “I don’t feel like that number is close to adequate.”
ASU said it had about 14,000 living on campus at the start of this semester, and 3,000 students still remain on campus. Students who chose to move out after April 15 will not be eligible for the credit.
The University of Arizona said last month it would give a partial refund to students who moved of its dorms.
A class action lawsuit was filed last week against the Arizona Board of Regents, which governs the state’s three public universities, over unrefunded housing costs.
