Quinnipiac University rescinded its plan to charge daily fees to students who will live on campus over Thanksgiving break.
The Office of Residential Life emailed students on Oct. 7 and Oct. 11 that they would be charged $50 for each day spent on campus over the nine-day break. However, John Morgan, vice president of public relations, said that “after receiving student feedback, the decision was made to not charge students.”
Tobore Emede, a graduate student in the biomedical sciences program from Nigeria, said he has stayed on campus through “almost every break” and was speechless when he first read about the fees.
“I was told that [the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement] was advocating on behalf of the international students to get the fee waived for us,” Emede said. “Despite feeling supported by these measures being taken, I still could not wrap my head around the reasoning behind the fee.”
He added in an email to HQNN that “never in [his] 4 years was it a problem to stay in housing over break.”
Services from the health center and dining halls to shuttles and fitness centers will not be open during break. However, Emede said that the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement is helping coordinate programs and transportation for trips to the grocery store for students.
Aleksandra Niemyjska, a film television and media arts major from Poland, called the university’s decision “smart” because “paying $500 for two weeks is ridiculous.”
“It would be very difficult to go home for just 10 days… and not everyone has a place to go once they live on campus,”
Aleksandra Niemyjska
Teresa Quinici, a sophomore human resource management major from Winchester, Massachusetts, acknowledged that the fee would have been exceptionally damaging to international students, but even some students who live in close proximity.
“Maybe [students] have an unstable home life,” she said. “Or maybe they will not be able to be picked up until the weekend.”
This is not the first time that Quinnipiac has reversed a charge that was met with student backlash. When the university planned a $90 parking fee last spring semester, it rescinded the decision after students reacted negatively.
“I think the school is greedy for money, and honestly will take any chance to use student’s money instead of their own,” Quinici said.
Morgan declined to give further details about why the university planned to charge students to begin with, and he refused to comment on where the money would be allocated if it were still in effect.
The original deadline to submit a late-stay request to Residential Life was Oct. 15, but students now have until Nov. 11.