Who Doesn't Harvard Screw?

Harvard specifically screws Asian applicants by requiring much more of them than any other group, and it screwed all of its students generally by charging its usual tuition but delivering less of a product:

A (Harvard graduate) federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by three Harvard graduate students in 2020 over the University’s refusal to partially refund tuition as classes moved online early in the Covid-19 pandemic.

The class action lawsuit alleged that Harvard acted unlawfully in shifting to virtual coursework without providing partial tuition and fee refunds for students’ lost on-campus experiences due to the Covid-19 crisis.

In Monday’s ruling, District Judge Indira Talwani ’82 granted the University’s motion to dismiss the suit, which argued that the plaintiffs failed to prove Harvard breached an express and implied contract with students...

In a memorandum filed in October, Harvard’s attorneys argued that the University “never made a promise, contractual or otherwise” to hold in-person instruction under all conditions.

Talwani wrote in Monday’s decision that the plaintiffs did not demonstrate Harvard students were contractually entitled to in-person instruction and on-campus access during “normal times,” and that even if they had, “Spring 2020 was not a normal time"...

Talwani noted Harvard also allowed students at the plaintiffs’ schools to decide between continuing classes remotely last spring or taking a leave of absence and receiving a partial tuition refund. Harvard additionally offered pro-rated refunds for room and board to students who had to vacate their campus housing.

Talwani also denied a partial reimbursement for Barkhordar’s fall 2020 semester tuition after he alleged the University gave him a “coercive choice” to either enroll online or take time off.

She concluded that in choosing to enroll last fall while aware instruction would be online, Barkhordar accepted the conditions of a virtual fall semester and could have “no reasonable expectation otherwise.”

While the students had no idea at the start of the 2019-20 school year that their school year would be cut short, they certainly knew what they (or their parents, or the taxpayers) were getting before the beginning of the 2020-21 school year.  If they were compelled to pay for student fees, though, for things they couldn't access like printing, sports, the gym, the student union, etc, well, Harvard got away with screwing them on that topic.