Sara Weissman, writing in www.Feedspot.com, reports that a coalition of higher education reform organizations in the US, led by Partners for College Affordability and Public Trust, have published a “Tuition Payer Bill of Rights” amidst the continuing closure of campus services because of COVID-19 restrictions. Apparently, there has been over 100 class action lawsuits against colleges and universities, questioning whether students should be putting tuition and fees toward services they’re not receiving.
One of the arguments put forward by the coalition is - “We think it is accurate to say that COVID-19 has resulted in a breach of delivery of the quality of educational experiences and activities that students and their families paid for in the spring semester. With any other service and good, if you had a default or it is not up to the standard it was sold to you, you have recourse.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has had similar effect on higher education institutions in Malaysia. All higher education institutions were forced to close and send their students back. This happened over March and April after the first Covid-19 Restrictions were published in the Government Gazette on 18 March 2020. The expectation in official documents ordering the closure was that lessons would continue online. Whilst word of mouth information from some students and some institutions tells that lessons continued without interruption despite the closure, similar information from other groups of students and institutions tells of situations where online alternatives were either not available or grossly inadequate. There were also reports that students had difficulties in accessing online courses because of lack of bandwidth in their home locations or that they were unable to afford the cost of bandwidth. The likely consequential costs to students or their parents include having to pay rent for board while waiting to return home, cost of additional travel, loss of rental paid in advance, loss of tuition fees covering the period of closure, and of course, the costs arising from the delay in the students completing their studies. However, this listing of costs does not consider the impact on students in public universities whose loss of entitlements as students may have wider implications.
There is another side to the Covid-19 implications that applies only to students in private higher educational institutions and on the sector as a whole. This is because private institutions are established by companies whose financial position and its assets determine the continuing viability of the institution after it is established. Unlike their counterparts in the public sector, private students are entirely reliant on commercial laws and statutory safeguards to their position. Their rights in the event of their institution closing are limited to actions against the company that established the institution. If the company is wound up, that is, it is legally terminated, the educational institution the company established will also fail. The protection to students in such an eventuality under commercial laws is at best that of a creditor. The statutory protection accorded to students in the event of a closure of their institution are hardly adequate. They are only entitled to a notice from the company of the closure and in some cases, there is an obligation on the board of directors of the company to make arrangements for the continuation of the students’ education. The Covid-19 pandemic could not have arrived at a worse time for the sector. Recent reports estimate that about 50% of the institutions in the sector are financially stressed and have been operating at a loss for up to 3 years. There is a serious risk that many of these institutions may be forced to close because of the Covid-19 Closedown impositions. Private institutions are funded by the fees paid by students. In most cases, students pay their fees on a semester basis, and that too on instalments spread across the semester. This is how private institutions have made higher education affordable to large sections of the community who would otherwise not have been able to access education beyond the school. If the Covid-19 restrictions keep students away from the institutions, they may find themselves cut off from the funds that are vital for their survival during the closure. This will not only impact students currently registered with them but have a long and adverse impact on higher education in the country.
The pandemic and its impact on educational institutions forces a re-examination of the ways in which higher education is delivered. There are no easy or obvious solutions. The student bill of rights that is reproduced below, if implemented here, may improve the position of students in both public and private sectors. Particularly interesting is the right to ‘information about how much a degree from a particular school is likely to increase their earnings before they enrol.’ This is after all the nub and substance of a venture into education - the security a qualification offers for the future as the student ventures into life.
Interestingly, some of the rights stated in the bill of rights are probably already available to Malaysian students under the Consumer Protection Act 1999 (CPA). The provisions on future services contract (s.17) at least partially addresses the first right stated in the bill of rights. The provisions on unfair contract terms may deal with right no. 2. As for the right under 4 in the bill, the CPA’s ‘fit for purpose’ guarantee implied in all such contracts may produce the same effect as the right.
The six student rights that the coalition has put forward are;
Students have the right to services guaranteed by tuition, like room and board, and should be refunded when those services aren’t available;
They should be able to opt out of paying for non-essential services like athletics;
They should have access to no-cost, online options for their textbooks;
They have a right to detailed, clear explanations of their anticipated college costs, their financial aid and how their institutions spend tuition dollars;
They have a right to information about how much a degree from a particular school is likely to increase their earnings before they enroll; and
They should be able to address governing and advisory boards for their institutions before decisions that impact them are made.
Neither the CPA nor the proposed bill of rights deal with the most serious effect of the Covid-19 Regulations on higher education, which is the closing of institutions. This happened because the delivery of higher education is dependent on the location where it is delivered. When the location where the education was delivered was forced to shut under the regulations, it also shut down the education. Is there a way out?
Yes.
Introduce regulations to make all educational programs deliverable through the medium of the Internet. Higher education methods must employ pedagogies that are capable of delivery without the students all present in one location. The shift in regulations will help the continuity of education and the sustainability of institutions even in times such as that we are currently experiencing under the pandemic.
