D’s school, Susquehanna, is now testing all students 2x/week. Kind of surprising since they really didn’t have a lot of cases in the fall. I want to say their peak was 40 something students, but don’t quote me on that. Quinnipiac, where S is attending, does very detailed random testing (random from each floor in each dorm and each off campus house) and they’ve been under 1% since they came back. S’s dorm had a spike (5 cases) and was quarantined for 10 days. One of his close friends was positive but he never got it, thankfully.
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I read a recent Twitter thread on the future of companies, and the argument was that work-from-home is here to stay for many: https://twitter.com/chris_herd/status/1359135080753614854?s=20
I wondered about the implications of this for colleges following this coronavirus crisis.
I have different perspectives on this as a parent, as a romantic, and as a college lecturer.
As a parent, I’m really keen for my D to have the full on-campus experience. Moving away from home. Living in dormitories. Friends. Face-to-face classes and labs. I think that for these reasons (that is, that going away to college is much more than just formal education) the residential experience is here to stay. Maybe even with enhancements of the student community experience.
As a romantic, I love the idea of a small, picturesque campus with a terrific library.
As someone who teaches I’ve also seen the other side of the equation. Some of our courses work better - lots better - than the face-to-face versions. They are more interactive and less one-way than traditional, large lectures. I think that lectures were on their way out before Covid, with students simply not attending. Post-Covid? I think they might be dead. Online teaching does not suit every student and every topic, but I don’t think that we will be going back to where we were before either. For many students, the convenience of not having to commute, rearrange work or child-care will be difficult to give up.
I’d be interested in what other parents and those who teach think…
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I think the residential college experience is here to stay, but the reality is that most students can’t afford a four year residential experience…unfortunately it’s just not an option for hundreds of thousands of students each year, and not sure I see the costs for the four year residential experience coming down significantly anytime soon.
I do see continued growth in fully remote college offerings…which we had been seeing pre-pandemic with the success of WGU, SNHU, ASU, etc. Probably will continue to see an increase in states offering free community college too.
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I think that ongoing investment in online education could do wonders to widening access to non traditional colleges groups.
I work at a university teaching hospital and have just spoken to a student sonographer. I have known her for 10 years, she started here at 19 as an assistant and is now in her mid twenties and owns her own apartment close to the hospital. Pre Covid she used to travel in to the college 2-3 days a week for lectures. Now her course is 100% online and she loves it. She saved a fortune in train tickets, the time commitment is less, she can sleep in curl up in her pyjamas in front of the laptop to watch lectures.
Online/hybrid allows more convenient employee sponsored degrees, allowing low socio economic people to “learn as they earn” and continue to be able to pay their living expenses as they study. The residential college model is essentially limited to middle class young adults, a third party pays the bills and they have no dependents.
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There will always be a market for the small intimate college experience, but it’s going to cost $80k and be a small slice of the pie. The bigger colleges are going to embrace hybrid learning because it allows for more students (lowering cost), a lot of students like the option of F2F or virtual, and kids today love video. We’re all on FB and twitter, and they’re on snapchat and tik tok…
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My D is having a bit of buyers remorse for heading back to campus, if I’m being honest. First few days back and the campus locked down to the highest degree before sending everyone home. There are no cases/outbreaks, but there were too many large gatherings happening. She also found out that she chose to go back based on bad information. She thought that apartments functioned as pods, giving her the ability to have space and cook and eat and relax unmasked. Turns out that’s not the case and she can’t be unmasked except in her bedroom and she can’t be in the kitchen/dining room at the same time as her two apartment roommates. She said it feels very, very lonely… made worse by the fact that basically everyone is breaking the rules and have formed small pods. She doesn’t know what she wants to do now.
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I am sorry to read this news. That is a terrible policy on the college’s part to not allow small pods with those in a single housing unit …that’s just asking too much of humans. How do you feel if she formed a pod with her apartment and did not mask in common area with them? That college is kidding itself if it thinks students are going to make it through the semester in that way.
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Maybe the college just hasn’t moved to the different level yet where apartment-mates can take their masks off when just with each other. For many NE LACs, it takes almost two weeks on campus before they move to that.
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I told her that she can make her choice and I empathize and respect it either way. But I made sure she knows that if she decides to break the rules and there are consequences, she is to own them without complaint.
There is no level where that is allowed. She confirmed it with a Dean.
So, for the entire semester, they can only be maskless in their rooms?
This sounds really mentally isolating.
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I don’t think that’s correct.
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Yes, that is correct, for the whole semester they can only be unmasked in their rooms or while showering, brushing teeth, or eating. Eventually they’ll be allowed to eat together outside, but for now only alone in their rooms or 6 feet apart in dining tents. The thing is, everyone has a pod… everyone- to the point that she didn’t even realize it was against the rules. The school may have these rules, but they’re not doing anything to stop everyone from breaking them either.
From her Dean, when she asked him directly if there is ever a scenario when she can be unmasked in her apartment…
“Each apartment is divided into 2 or 3 singles. The expectation is that they wear a mask and maintain distance in common areas. They must also abode by the college’s guest policy, the same as students in the dorms.”
I would feel the same. That said, I would want my tuition and room&board refunded if my student was expected to wear a mask in her own apartment indefinitely, if that had not been made 100% explicitly clear in advance. Hang in there.
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Here are the different levels. Not a lot of detail compared to other colleges’ plans I’ve seen. Even at Bowdoin, where the plan is super conservative, students in the same residence can gather in small groups without masks in their “yellow” level which is likely starting this Wed.
Yes, we’ve read the levels (they’re currently on three), and you’ll notice at no level does it mention the rules for living in the dorms/apartments. That’s because the rules are static and don’t change with the levels. They’re expected to mask everywhere except the the times I listed and when alone in their rooms… no matter the level.
The official policy:
“ Wear face covering (masks) in all campus facilities, including workplaces, classrooms, dining halls (except while eating), fitness center (opening will be dependent on safety criteria and metrics), restrooms (except when I am in the shower or brushing my teeth), dorms (except when I am alone in my assigned room) and on College grounds.”
My daughter just got vaccinated at Rice. She moved in yesterday right before they got hit with a ice/snow storm. Houston is basically shut down with lots of power outages. The county had so many people cancel their vaccinations today they had almost 1000 doses that needed to be administered today before 5. The Med Center is across the street from the campus so I assume they thought they’d get enough takers. They sent a message out to students saying they were first come first served. My daughter was out playing in the snow with friends and they sprinted across campus to get in line. This has all happened in the last hour and she’s just been sending pics and texts so we’re still trying to piece it all together.
Update: Apparently it wasn’t due to cancellations. Due to a power outage they had 8000 doses that had to be given out today so they had to contact places that would get to a lot of people. Rice got about 1000.
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Ok so kids are making pods on their own. Do her roommates want to make a pod with her? What are they doing?
That’s great that the doses didn’t go to waste! I assume the second vaccine is guaranteed?
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