Compensation for room and board costs, meal points:

Students are receiving credits to their accounts in response to the university shutdown

Chatwan Mongkol, Associate News Editor

Quinnipiac University students will receive reimbursements for housing and dining as announced on Wednesday, April 22.

Mark Varholak, vice president and chief financial officer, sent an email to the Quinnipiac community regarding the university’s protocol to refund housing and dining credits.

Connor Lawless
Resident students living in Commons, above, and all other university housing will receive prorated reimbursements.

“We are taking this action now in the hope that this credit will provide some measure of financial relief for families regarding their fall invoices,” Varholak said in the email.

According to the email, students will receive housing credits based on their housing types: $3,115 for a standard room in the Irma, Dana, Commons, Ledges, Mountainview, Larson, Perlroth and Troup residence halls; $3,320 for a standard room with a kitchen in Hill, Crescent, Townhouse, Westview and Eastview residence halls; $3,960 for a single room with kitchen in Westview and Eastview residence halls; $4,365 for a super single room in Crescent suites; and $3,870 for Whitney Village housing and off-campus housing.

These reimbursement amounts are the full allocated amounts for the remainder of the semester after the university closed on Sunday, March 15. According to the email, the reimbursement amounts are determined by the prorated costs of housing in the respective  options. The reimbursements will be automatically applied toward tuition and room and board costs for next semester.

For dining credits, the university will apply the maximum of 1,000 meal points toward the next semester’s meal plans for students who are registered within the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters. 

If the unused meal points exceed the maximum, they will be credited to the student’s bursar account and can be applied to tuition. The remaining meal points can be used until the end of the spring 2021 semester.

Varholak said in the email that cash refunds or meal point transfer options will not be available, and students whose housing and dining credits were paid for by the university will not be eligible for refunds. Non-graduating students who are not returning to Quinnipiac before the spring 2021 semester will not be eligible for refunds. 

For students who are graduating in spring 2020, both housing and dining credits will be applied toward students’ bursar accounts and be refunded at the end of the spring semester after final grades are posted. The reimbursements will be disbursed in the form of direct deposit or a paper check.

The university also offers other resources for students who are facing financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic such as the Bobcat Food Share Program, COVID-19 Financial Aid Appeals and the Student Care Fund, which the university has raised over $200,000 through donations from members of the community.

More information and updates on how the Quinnipiac is responding to COVID-19 can be found on the university website.