Thousands demand UCSD 'cancel' student fees after classes go online

A student at the University of California-San Diego is calling on her school to either discount or refund certain student fees after classes were forced online due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Jessica Liang created a Change.org petition, which at the time of publication had more than 12,000 signatures, writing, “since UCSD decided to put all the classes online, then the school fees...should be lower or cancel[ed]. Please support please. A lot of students still suffer from the student loan [debt crisis].” 

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Liang included a screenshot of several of the student fees listed on her student account, including a Campus Activity Fee, InterCollegiate Athletics Activity Fee, Recreational Facility Fee, College Activity Fee, Student Service Fee, Transportation Fee, and University Center Fee. Combined, these fees total more than $1,000 for the spring quarter.

”Since the class[es] in spring 2020 would all be online, I found a lot of UCSD students complained about that,” Liang told Campus Reform. “They think it is not worth [it] to pay such high tuition for online classes.”

”I think the number can tell the story,” Liang added, referring to the number of people who have signed the petition. “So I just put out what is on my student bill. And I posted the petition to some student group on FB. After that, the number of signatures increased rapidly.” 

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”A lot of my friends thank[ed] me for doing that,” she said.

Liang told Campus Reform that since creating the petition, she has not heard directly from the university. 

”It makes me a little disappointed. But I’m sure our school would make some adjustments,” Liang said. 

Campus Reform asked UCSD to comment but did not receive a response in time for publication. 

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