School

The Covid-19 pandemic has left over 100,000 Americans dead and millions of workers unemployed. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 14.7% of workers were jobless as of April 2020. For comparison, the average unemployment rate for 2019 was 3.7%.

Unemployment has not impacted racial groups equally. The unemployment rate for Black people is over 4 points higher than white people, Latinx workers face an unemployment rate 5 percent higher than white workers. . Racialized capitalism means that the financial demands for tuition freezes, and direct payments through the CARES act are even more essential to protect Black and Brown students at UVA.

As these numbers continue to grow, students, workers, and their families struggle to pay bills and put food on the table.

• Our survey revealed an increasing concern about covering financial obligations, including rent.

In addition to looming depressionary economic conditions, the disrupted nature of Spring 2020 and the proposed alterations to Fall 2020, including the potential necessity of J-terms to remain on-track, have exacerbated the already-present student concerns about the proposed tuition increases for 2020-2021 and beyond.

• In the fall of 2019 YDSA at UVA ran a campaign for a tuition freeze that received over 400 signatures, and sent over 5000 emails. Widespread support for freezing tuition already exists.

If university services are reduced in the fall to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, and students cannot be expected to pay full price for these services.

With an over $9 billion endowment, UVA can afford to freeze tuition at the 2019-2020 rate. Endowments are seen as something that is timeless, meant to constantly accumulate wealth that is nearly never touched. We demand this change, we demand the endowment be used instead of austerity measures.

Other public universities in Virginia have frozen tuition for the 2020-2021 year. They include Virginia Tech, Radford, JMU, and William and Mary. At this point a tuition increase for the following year is the exception, not the rule.

Moreover, the economic fallout from COVID-19 will continue to be felt, particularly among the most vulnerable of us for years to come. Therefore, tuition must be frozen for more than just the following year.

The wellbeing of students must be among the university’s top concerns. UVA only committed half of the CARES Act money to support students, even though this economic and health crisis will continue for many more months.

Given recent rulings by Betsy Devos to make CARES Act money inaccessible to non-citizens, including DACA recipients, we need at least some of the money to come directly from UVA, and available to non-citizen students. Excluding DACA recipients and undocumented students is unacceptable.

The mutual aid network organized by StudCo in March was highly commendable and a saving grace for many, but has since lapsed without any durable institutional support from UVA.

Students may now face a semester where they can no longer work, their guardians are unemployed, and paying bills is harder than ever. Because of a long history of racism, COVID-19’s financial and health impacts have been disproportionate on Black and Brown communities. We need easily accessible direct money for the health and well being of students whose families and communities have been hurt by the pandemic.

UVA’s decision to remove the deadline to apply for CARES act relief is the correct one, however we must also have a longer-term commitment of the remainder of the funding to helping students meet their needs as they arise throughout the coming semester.

Students are living in constant uncertainty as a result of the pandemic. Financial distress, concern for their own health and the health of their family members, and the strain this places on student’s mental health create barriers to academic success, placing student’s grades and futures in jeopardy.

Our survey revealed that the majority of students favor opt-in C/NC grading.

Our survey revealed that the majority of students who receive accommodations through SDAC were concerned about losing those accommodations as UVA adapts to changing education in the Covid-19 era.

Students with underlying health conditions or high-risk family members will rely on online learning, as will students enrolled in large courses. Therefore, it is essential UVA adapt all accommodations that are available in the traditional classroom setting to the online format, including providing note-takers and extra time on exams to students who rely on these accommodations.

The university must recognize that, while students may choose to take classes online because Covid-19 poses an increased risk to themselves or to their families, those same students may have disabilities like ADHD that make online courses particularly challenging, and that these students may require additional accommodations through SDAC.

Additionally, the university must ensure that any changes made to the format of in-person courses as a result of Covid-19 do not create unnecessary barriers for students with disabilities.

It is essential that students are able to receive testing for SDAC related disabilities. Financial barriers to formal diagnosis set back working-class and poor students and make it challenging for them to receive the same accommodations as their wealthier peers. We need the school to pay for and supplement the costs of testing.