A student coalition named Missouri Student Action has created a petition to halve tuition for online classes at UMKC. The petition, which as of writing has almost 1,300 of 1,500 signature goal, is addressed to the UM Board of Curators and calls on them to take five specific actions.
The demands include:
- Freezing the 2.3% tuition increase for the fall semester.
- Halving tuition costs for online classes.
- Refunding and waiving summer cancellation fees and late fees for housing contracts.
- Ensuring protections for minority staff and programs that benefit minority students.
- Reversing the decision to merge the roles of UM system president and MU chancellor.
“While we recognize that UMKC is suffering economically due to the ongoing pandemic, it should also be noted that students are too, with unemployment at all time highs,” the petition stated.
Bwaar Omer, a Master’s program student at UMKC, appreciates the sentiment but has concerns.
“[The tuition reduction] would be great as long as professors can get the pay they deserve,” said Omer. “I would appreciate this kind of assistance, but I could see why the university would be against this idea.”
At the time of writing, the university had issued no comment regarding the petition.
