UL say financial assessment must take place before accommodation fees can be refunded

The President of the University of Limerick says they can’t commit to a refund of accommodation fees until a thorough financial assessment has taken place.

Dr Des Fitzgerald has been responding to queries by many students seeking money back, as their on-campus lectures and classes are still cancelled.

In a statement to Tipp FM, Dr Fitzgerald said that on-campus accommodation remains “open and operational”, with 600 students still living on site.

He says that residents “were not at any stage asked to leave” and that “very many remain fully reliant on UL.”.

He also says the University is in the process of assessing the financial impact of the pandemic, and believes it’s likely that a significant deficit will be recorded this year and next.

He says they are “sympathetic to certain requests” from students, but speaks about the challenge of balancing limited resources.

As a result, he says they can’t commit to refunding accommodation fees until they assess the financial impact of ongoing challenges with its regulator and funders.

The full statement from Dr Des Fitzgerald reads as follows:

I have had queries from students, press and the public representatives in relation to the refund of accommodation fees where a student has chosen to vacate in the current difficult circumstances.

The on-campus accommodation at University of Limerick has remained open and operational and there are 600 students living in the village residences. Staff are working seven days a week to provide support and security to these students. Our residents were not at any stage asked to leave and very many remain now fully reliant on UL.

While the main University campus has physically closed and teaching in lecture theatres and classrooms have transferred online, an extended seven day support service is in place in the residences so that we can continue to enable students to live in their homes while using high quality facilities to support remote learning.

UL is in a process of quantifying the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. It seems likely at this stage, taking into account that additional Government funding has not yet been provided to the University, that a significant deficit will be incurred in both the current year and next year.

UL has and continues to receive a range of appeals for help from students negatively impacted by the coronavirus epidemic. UL has also been asked to support frontline organisations, such as the HSE, local hospitals and research bodies tackling the myriad of issues that must be addressed if the people of the Mid-West are to survive this disaster. UL is very sympathetic and supportive of these appeals and has devoted significant resources and effort to respond. Indeed we are trying to find ways to support students who actually have been directed to leave their off campus accommodation.

The University is also managing a range of challenges in its own core mission in the provision of education and research and the supports required for our students and staff and stakeholders in the delivery of this mission.

We will continue to balance our limited resources to ensure our own sustainability and to support the public health and associated challenges, mindful of the legislative requirement to act within our significant but limited budget. In some cases this might mean that while we are sympathetic to certain requests now we cannot devote budget until we have sight of a funding source which may be forthcoming at a later date.

We are working with our regulator/funders to assess the financial impact of the third party and our own needs to understand what may be possible to fund in the future and until that is work is complete we cannot make a commitment to refund accommodation fees.

We are also mindful that the government directive for universities and other educational facilities is that the closure notice remains to mid-April and we are working through the implications of that.