Fall Semester - Is Anyone Considering a Gap Year

My son was admitted to Syracuse for the coming fall and is really excited and has been looking forward to it. He met some people who were also admitted and has been meeting more on the Syracuse site for architectural students. My ex and I have been speaking with our son about whether or not he should defer given the current health crisis. We received an email today from Syracuse saying that they are going to start a week early and after the kids go home for Thanksgiving, they will take their final exams virtually. However, this still leaves a lot of questions open for us. What do they plan to do for the winter session? Are the dorms, cafeterias and classes going to be the same as they always were or are they doing modifications to address health concerns? Are they going to have clubs (which is one of the things we pay for in tuition)? Are there professors who are either not coming back or who are planning on teaching virtually during the fall semester? Do they have a protocol in place to address what happens if they have a positive case? If so, what is it? How many deferrals have they received so far - are most kids still coming back or is the school going to be half empty?

My son raises a concern that he would like to go if his friends are going because he would like his college journey to be with the wonderful friends he has made so far. He tells me that none of them are even considering deferral. I am wondering whether he either may not be asking the right questions or the other kids are not sharing that they had discussions with their parents so that they can all say the same thing.

Are there any other Syracuse parents out there who have any thoughts on this?

My son will be a freshman and is planning to go to campus in August. More details to come from the school regarding dorms, cafeterias, etc. If I had to guess I would say the clubs will be limited in the fall and if there are sports, like football it will likely be without fans. The experience will be different for these kids but since it’s their first year perhaps the change won’t seem as drastic. I have two others in college and they do not want online classes in the fall so I hope their schools do something similar as Syracuse. I do hope the tuition and room/board prices will be adjusted but we’ll have to wait and see…

I agree, they should reduce tuition. That’s a big part of the issue - the kids are not getting what the tuition actually includes. However, I have not heard anything about them reducing tuition and, in fact, these articles indicate that tuition is going UP!!

http://dailyorange.com/2020/05/su-raise-cost-tuition-2020-21-academic-year/

https://www.syracuse.com/syracuse-university/2020/05/syracuse-university-increases-tuition-and-financial-aid-for-next-year-sticker-price-now-more-than-76k.html

My D will be a freshman and we are thrilled that Syracuse is seriously working toward on-campus instruction and living. Obviously I think they are hoping for the best and planning for the worst, but so far so good. I’m sure many activities will be limited, such as sports, clubs, probably some online lectures for larger classes, etc. Not sure exactly how they will handle the cafeteria and dorms, but I don’t think they can really do too much with the dorms. Although the experience will likely be greatly diminished from what any of us had hoped for, everything is relative. The kids have never been at Syracuse before, so they have nothing to compare it to, unlike the upperclassmen. They can also look forward to things getting normal (and “better”) in the not so distant future, and for them, just being away from home for the first time and dealing with the adversity together with the other students might just make them all closer as a result. And since college students are resourceful (sometimes a little TOO resourceful), I have no doubt they will have a lot of “fun” regardless - one of the main benefits of on-campus living!

We considered a gap year briefly, but honestly don’t know what D would do with it since jobs and travel opportunities are extremely limited anyway. Might as well bite the bullet now, dip their toes in the water and get accustomed to Syracuse, if even on a scaled-back basis, and in no time I believe things will get better each subsequent semester.

My one caveat is if Syracuse announced they were going to be entirely online next semester with students staying home, I might reconsider the gap year, unless it is offered at a substantial discount. Nothing can replace the on-campus college educational experience in my view. If some classes happen to be online for safety’s sake, but my D will be on campus with her roommate and other friends and classmates, I can accept that for a semester or two.