JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As Jasmyne Ortiz finishes her Summer semester with the University of North Florida, she was faced with a list of fees. It includes about 20 services for the semester, including Distancing Learning Fee, Activity Fee, Student Union Fee, and Transportation.
Although Ortiz was charged for these services, she said she was not able to use these services because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“All the fees that come with a regular semester, yet the campus was completely closed and we could not use those resources like usual,” Ortiz said.
UNF, like every other school, kept students at home for months with online classes to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19.
Ortiz believes her bill should reflect that. It does include a $50 exemption called “COVID Waivers”. But Ortiz is taking it another step further for the services she could not use, like her parking pass or student union fee.
“There was no reimbursement for things that we weren’t allowed to use, we couldn’t even have access to them,” Ortiz said.
She created a petition in hopes of getting her parking pass refunded or extended to the Fall semester. Find it here.
Action News Jax spoke to another UNF student who had concern about tuition rates. He asked why tuition would not be changed since all of his classes were online only.
A UNF spokesperson sent the following response:
“UNF’s approx. tuition rate is $212 per credit hour for Florida residents and $693 for non-residents, although many individual factors play into the price of tuition. Visit the tuition tab on the UNF website for more information. Fall tuition has not changed. UNF’s Fall 2020 Draft Reopening Blueprint outlines details and more information and can be found here.
Regarding parking: UNF continually strives to reduce costs for our students during this pandemic. Parking fees are necessary as the funds are used for maintenance of infrastructure including garages, surface lots and pay kiosks, bond payments, enforcement vehicles, parking software, lighting, equipment and more.”
Cox Media Group
