Students who attended the University of Colorado’s Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver or Anschutz campuses during the spring 2020 semester are eligible to receive a refund of some of their student fees as part of a $5 million class-action lawsuit settlement announced Wednesday.

The settlement stems from a 2020 class-action lawsuit filed by attorney Igor Raykin over the fees students were charged to access on-campus services such as recreation centers that were shut down due to COVID-19.

Ken McConnellogue, a University of Colorado spokesman, said the safety of the university community was the prime focus when COVID-19 hit.

“We also worked to ensure students were able to continue their educational journeys, to get course credit and, for some, to graduate,” McConnellogue said. “We strongly disagreed with the premise of the suit and fought it, but eventually settled because we would rather spend time and money on student success than on litigation.”

Raykin said the pandemic was tough for everyone.

“It was the right decision to shut down a lot of facilities and services. But it was the wrong decision for public schools to keep money for services they weren’t providing. Students generally are cash-poor in the first place, and it’s not fair to keep their money when they’re getting nothing in return.”

The amount of money eligible students receive will depend on how many opt out of the settlement fund, Raykin said.

The $5 million will be split among the tens of thousands of eligible students. Students will have 180 days from a payment redemption period that is expected to start this summer to collect their funds. For more information on how to sign up or opt out of receiving the money, students can go to cucovidsettlement.com.

“It should be equivalent to some pizza or beer money,” Raykin said in an interview.

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