Will Purdue refund housing or dining costs for Fall 2020 or Spring 2021 if the university must transition to fully remote learning as a result of COVID-19? (Added June 26)

No. If we are required to move to online instruction earlier than Thanksgiving, likely we would again give students the option to stay on campus. Whether campus instruction is in-person or fully remote, University Residences will remain open and continue to offer services through December. If a student decides to leave campus early, there will be no refund or cancellation of the housing fees specified in the student’s University Residences housing contract. In this respect, the contract is comparable to the apartment leases required by off-campus property owners. Our hope would be to resume campus operations in the Spring 2021. Should modifications to that plan become necessary, we would evaluate the situation in real time, making sure to update the Purdue community along the way. 

Dining plans feature two offerings: meals-per-week (measured by card “swipes”) and dining dollars. The card swipes do not roll over in the meals-per-week offering, so no refunds are made for unused swipes if a student leaves campus. On the other hand, the dining dollars are allotted over the entire year, so those are available if such a student were to return to campus in the spring semester.