Students will be paid to leave the dorms at a Michigan university due to coronavirus

Michigan State University is paying students over $1,000 to leave the dorms to curb the spread of the coronavirus, media outlets report.

The university sent students living in campus housing that they can get $1,120 to move out, WLNS reported. Students can be refunded with a housing credit in the fall, money for a dining plan next year or a direct deposit, a university spokesperson told the outlet.

Student must fill out a form by Friday and check out by April 12, The State News reported.

About 2,350 students still lived on campus Monday, a spokeswoman told the Lansing State Journal. The university is shifting to online classes until the end of the semester and postponed graduation ceremonies.

“We were getting a lot of inquiries and feedback from students ... over what they thought might be fair,” spokeswoman Emily Guerrant told the newspaper.

It’s a difficult situation shared by students across the United States as campuses shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving them with unexpected travel costs and the risk of losing access to food, according to Inside Higher Ed.

“What I worry is the responses can actually exacerbate pre-existing inequalities,” Anthony Abraham Jack, assistant professor of education at Harvard University, told Inside Higher Ed.