Since the university’s original announcement of switching to online classes temporarily – now until the end of the semester – Wichita State President Jay Golden said that students would be refunded for room and board.

Now, students will also be funded for the remainder of their parking permits, possibly some fees that aren’t able to be utilized for the rest of the semester – like the student wellness fee now that all YMCAs are closed – but definitely not tuition.

“In terms of tuition, I just will say no, we are offering a different method of teaching,” Provost Rick Muma said at the university’s last weekly briefing. “So at this particular time, tuition definitely would not be something that will be considered refunded because we’re still offering the product, classes, although in a different format.”

Currently, there is not a timeline on when refunds will be offered. Muma said that the university will be following Kansas Board of Regents policy and is waiting for guidance from them.

“We recognize that there will be financial questions around how we will handle prorated housing and board charges,” a statement read on the university’s website. “While we do not know all of those answers at this point, we are working on this issue and will provide specific information as soon as we can.”

When asked if particular fees would be refunded, such as the student wellness fee, Muma said that was a discussion that administration was having.

“That’s one of the conversations that we’re having. We had some discussion about this morning, but we haven’t made any decisions on that.”

At KBOR’s virtual meeting yesterday, Golden said that parking permits will also be refunded.