Molloy University to pay back students a portion of the tuition collected during pandemic

Nearly 5,000 students who paid Molloy University, in Rockville Centre, the full tuition for the spring 2020 semester are eligible for a partial reimbursement from the school.

Matt Albanese Sr., Molloy’s director of compliance, said that due to the coronavirus pandemic, all course studies were required to switch to an online model to ensure that students were able to complete their education.

“Molloy has always been a student-focused institution,” Albanese said in a statement. “As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, schools in New York State were ordered to shut down their campuses in the spring of 2020.”

The reimbursement is part of a settlement agreement of a class-action lawsuit filed in December 2020 by Maddison Booth, a former undergraduate nursing student. According to court records, the university will provide a $1.5 million cash settlement fund to help students by paying a portion of their tuition and fees.

The university will also offer students $3 million in non-cash benefits, including access to academic and career services on campus for one year and an additional 30 percent reduction in graduate school tuition for the following two years.

Eligible students will receive notice of the settlement in the coming weeks from CPT Group, a third-party organization that specializes in administering class action settlements, with final court approval expected by the fall.

Court records indicate that Booth, the lead plaintiff in the case, paid $15,665 in yearly tuition and additional mandatory fees totaling $1,011. In the lawsuit, her attorneys said that Molloy “retained the full amount of tuition and fees.”

The lawsuit claimed that the “college failed to offer any refunds, provide any discounts, or apply any credit to plaintiff and class members’ other semesters,” and that Booth was seeking a pro-rata, or proportional, refund of tuition and fees, on behalf of herself and the others who attended during the spring 2020 semester.

In response, Molloy representatives indicated that the university had partially refunded student fees for the semester and invested in a new state-of-the-art air purification system to help protect the campus community.

“This was an unprecedented time, but throughout the pandemic, Molloy continued to maintain its focus on the students,” Albanese said. “In the fall of 2020, Molloy was the first college or university in the region to freeze tuition, in recognition of the hardship that the pandemic was imposing on its students and their families.”

Students such as Booth, who were scheduled to graduate in the spring of 2020, were also refunded half of the graduation application fee. But Booth did not receive a refund for activities and services that were previously provided in-person but instead continued remotely due to the pandemic.

Albanese further stated, “Although we disagree with the plaintiff’s claims, we believe resolving the lawsuit will allow us to remain focused on the educational experience of Molloy’s students, which is always our highest priority.”

According to Newsday, the combined benefits will allow for an average reimbursement of about $900 per student.

Since the pandemic eased, there have been at least four other similar cases filed by Long Island students against their respective colleges, including Adelphi, Hofstra, Long Island University and the New York Institute of Technology.

According to the terms of the Molloy settlement, students may submit an election form to decide on the most convenient method for them to receive their settlement proceeds, including, but not limited to, checks or electronic payments.