Colleges get shield from COVID-19 lawsuits
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Florida Colleges Are Now Shielded From COVID-19 Lawsuits
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TALLAHASSEE Public and private colleges and universities could soon be protected from coronavirus-related lawsuits under a wide-ranging higher education bill that also includes tuition breaks for “non-traditional” students.
The House on Wednesday night voted 102-11 to give final approval to the bill (HB 1261), which had passed the Senate earlier and now will go to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Under the proposal, colleges and universities would be shielded from lawsuits related to decisions to close campuses and force students to learn online during the COVID-19 pandemic. The push for legal protections is a response to class-action lawsuits aiming to recover money that students paid with the expectation of on-campus learning last year.
Florida tuition breaks part of higher-education deal reached by lawmakers
The bill offers in-state tuition to out-of-state students whose grandparents live in Florida and creates a âbuy one, get one freeâ waiver for students who enroll in programs aligned to the stateâs economic and workforce needs.
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TALLAHASSEE â Florida lawmakers have reached a compromise on a wide-ranging higher education bill that would create several tuition breaks for college students and would expand on the Legislatureâs push to provide coronavirus liability protections.
The legislation, passed unanimously by the Senate on Tuesday, would shield public and private universities from lawsuits seeking tuition and fee reimbursements as a result of pandemic-related school disruptions â and could do away with about 24 lawsuits filed in Florida against higher-education institutions.