To whom does Class Material (Papers, Test, Quizzes, etc.) Be

[WWGD]

Hi All,
I have been taking a class recently, and for some reason or another, professor has chosen not to return
neither assigned papers nor exams , although some homeworks have been returned. I brought it up and got a non-responsive answer to the effect of "we cannot just do that". I have heard similar stories from students taking classes in the same school, as well as from students taking classes in other schools. Is there any law regarding to whom this material belongs and whether students have the right to their tests, papers? Is there a diplomatic way of bringing this up? I assume profs. want to save themselves the time and effort of coming up with new tests each semester, which they would have to do if they returned exams, which would a student could show to others. Is this it?
Thanks

 

[dipole]

You should write homework/assignments in LaTeX so you always have a copy. Exams are the professors discretion, and yes it's probably mostly to do with cheating and keeping people from circulating previous years HW/Exams, which students do quite often.