Due to fear of the Coronavirus, Belmont Students have been asked not to return to campus until at least April 6th, continuing with classes online to further the curriculum.

However, since we are not on campus, we are no longer utilizing our dorms or our selected meal plans. We have paid for these accommodations through the university, given the fact that they will supply housing and food for us. Now that we are asked to not return to campus, at least a month of the semester will be spent with no use of students' meal plans nor dorms since they have returned home.

Because of this, Belmont should provide some sort of financial compensation to students that paid for these utilities and are being forced to not have access to them. Students have paid for 112 days, 105 with Spring Break, of housing and meal plans, varying in costs depending on where they stay and how many meals they receive. We are unable to use these facilities for 21 days as of current. 20% of time we have paid for is taken away from us.

Belmont has left us with this:

"Despite these extraordinary circumstances, costs associated with operating the University, including cost of staff and other resources to run facilities, delivering online learning, etc., do not go away. In fact, new and unplanned costs related to prevention and mitigation – including cleaning, acquisition of supplies and other emergency responses – become necessary. Tuition, room, board and related fees paid to the University are being fully utilized to maintain and manage this evolving situation for our University. As such, no refunds on housing/room/board can be made available."

I understand that these precautions/costs are necessary, but should not come at direct impact on the students. These costs were expensive, I, like many other students, paid for the full access to these accommodations in high cost. Many of us go into thousands of dollars of debt to Belmont to have access to on campus housing and meals, having a small portion of that returned for the inability to use these facilities is logical. It is unfair to the students to not have the ability to return to campus but still pay for the commodities of living on campus for that period.

I believe it is Belmont's duty to offer some sort of compensation for students who are no longer able to access their dorms and meal plans which they paid high costs for. Whether that be a 20% refund or a discount on their next semester, something should be done for the financial sake of the students.