EMMA PIRHALA / ASST. NEWS EDITOR

Nearly four years since the pandemic   shut  down universities nationwide,   former USD students are fighting for compensation in the United States District Court. In 2020, three former USD graduate students decided to file a class action suit — a civil suit presented by a group, or class of people who allege to have been negatively impacted by a defendant — against the University of San Diego for its tuition prices   during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the latest hearing dated in documentation as Feb. 7, 2024, alumni representing students enrolled in the Spring 2020 semester filed a motion to include a previously rejected report, from economics expert witness Dr. Gareth Macartney  calculating the monetary damages incurred by the class. 

This recent hearing is the first major update in the COVID-19 tuition case, since its start in October  2020 when two students of USD’s Paralegal Certificate Program, Haley Martinez and Matthew  Sheridan, filed the class action complaint against the University, concerning tuition fees during the Spring 2020 semester Martinez was later removed as the named plaintiff. A class action complaint is the legal document that starts a class action is known as a complaint.

As detailed in the original complaint, the students  requested “to be refunded the money they spent   for  educational services that  were  not provided,” including payments  for  services and access to USD’s   facilities that were    not provided throughout the full course of the semester. The original complaint also mentions  that other online classes at USD prior to COVID-19 were offered at a reduced price, compared to USD’s in-person classes.

 The complaint reads, “for the few classes for which USD provided online instruction [prior to COVID-19], USD charged far less in tuition. For example, USD charged $1,580 per unit of on-campus classes for its Master of Science in Health Care Informatics, but charged 41% less – $925 per unit– for the online version of the same class, for the same degree.” 

Current seniors are the only USD undergraduate students who attended USD while classes were held online. These seniors who started their time at USD during the pandemic share mixed feelings about their experiences with online learning. 

USD senior Mari Aguilar-Vargas          was   a  first-year   at USD during the pandemic. 

“I don’t think the level of instruction was comparable. That’s not to say it was due to lack of effort, because I think my professors at the time were doing the best they could,  but I think it was something that no one was truly prepared for and therefore my education for the semesters felt hindered,” Aguilar-Vargas explained. 

Regarding the struggles associated with virtual learning, Aguilar-Vargas stated, “It was hard to find the motivation to wake up early and log into Zoom, and also just adjusting to the whole Zoom experience in general. Having wifi issues on both ends, or even having to buy a new computer, because my other one was old and just couldn’t keep up with the all day use of it.”

Some classes, such as science labs, were significantly impacted by   the transition  to online classes, which  failed to provide the necessary learning experiences needed   to understand the subjects.

Aguilar-Vargas detailed her experience with labs,

“It just didn’t feel the same to log into Zoom to complete a lab knowing that it wasn’t something that was meant to happen online,” she said.

In Aug. 2022, the operating schedule  for the case set a deadline for both parties to exchange initial expert reports as evidence. However, lawyers representing the class served the University with a second report from  Macartney   two months  after the named deadline. Due to the report’s untimely  submission and its basis on information available at the initial deadline, Magistrate Judge William V. Gallo ordered for the report to be removed from the record and for the students to compensate USD for the attorney fees incurred by the report.

On   Feb. 7, 2024, the  class action lawsuit against USD received an update as the former students presented a motion to overturn Magistrate Judge Gallos’s order, which removedMacartney’s report from the record.  

The hearing concluded with the court ordering for discovery, a period in which plaintiffs and defendants may report evidence, to reopen until April 7, 2024, providing USD the ability to conduct additional depositions of Macartney and submit their rebuttals.

The former students were also “ordered   to pay all reasonable costs and expenses, including but not limited to attorney’s fees, incurred by [USD] during the limited reopening of discovery and in seeking the court’s intervention,” the court documents stated. 

USD senior Lauren Ghibaudo, who began at USD in the Fall of 2020, shared her experience with classes during COVID-19.  

“My  experience   was    definitely different, it was completely online, and even though I was able to be on campus,  it was really hard to learn virtually and make new friends. I do not think that paying the  same amount for online classes was worth it,” Ghibaudo said. 

“While I eventually learned how to learn online, there is just something so irreplaceable about in-person learning that you can’t replicate   through   Zoom. I even had a professor who was completely asynchronous, and I had to watch pre-recorded lectures. I never talked to them or knew anyone in my class,” Ghibaudo explained.

“While I do wish the tuition was lower, I have really liked my time at USD despite COVID-19, which is something out of my control,” Ghibaudo continued. “If I had dropped, I would never have been able to meet some of my best friends I met freshman year and experience life [with] them.”

University of San Diego public relations representative Cameran Zech commented on behalf of USD that the quality of education was commensurate with the price of tuition in Spring 2020. In a written statement to The USD Vista, she explained, “USD, its faculty, and staff went to extraordinary lengths under unprecedented circumstances to provide the safest, best possible learning experience for USD students during the pandemic. The University pivoted as quickly and efficiently as possible, at considerable  expense, to remote  learning and operations, with the same quality  of faculty and resources.”

The case will continue, although there is not a set date on the docket as of Feb. 20. Discovery will remain open for the next 60 days, in which new evidence may be uncovered and presented. 30 days following the close of discovery, the parties will be able to refile updated motions. However, for the time being, the case is far from completion. As USD’s seniors graduate in the spring, the fate of the class-action lawsuit will remain in the hands of the judicial system.

In March 2020 USD classes went virtual and didn’t officially return to in-person until Fall 2021. Photo courtesy of @usandiego/Facebook