Since I have a son who will be a freshman somewhere in the fall and I am assuming fall 2020 will be like late spring 2020 AKA online learning, does it change you Childs school. BY this I mean assume fall semester is online, spring semester everything back to normal. Do you pay the pricey OOS tuition? Do you pay the pricey LAC tuition? Yes you will not be paying Room and Board for a semester so you save some cash but some schools fall semester tuition is north of 30k. do you trust the school who gave you a grant but it is only for one year at a time? A lot to decide and not really a lot of time. I would think more parents will flock to closer state schools esp if they are a donut family. Thoughts???
I am in the spring semester and I am going to be taking online classes. It definitely depends on your major. For me as an engineering major, a lot of the professors are not very good at teaching the material so it was mostly self studying for me anyways but now everything is more convenient because I don’t have to leave home. If you are in state I believe tuition is only $7k or so a semester. I am not paying this amount because of scholarship, but I think it’s decent considering the circumstances. By fall 2020, I don’t really anticipate the school continuing to use online classes so I wouldn’t worry about that for now, just focus on admitting your kids into college
@Tictacmissus , Thanks for the reply, you have made some solid points but I am wondering if folks are willing to pay either OOS public tuition or private school tuition if things remain the same, I think more folks will lean to the instate flagship rather than the OOS school that is double that amount.
Given the economic devastation, I don’t think many people will have a choice.
You are basically asking if it makes sense to commit to an $$$ OOS school assuming the situation we are currently living will translate into the Fall Semester. It all depends on your finances and whether you think the OOS school is worth it. I think many of us are facing the same concern and situation. There are so many unknowns and I am afraid that this is not going to get answered by the time May 1st rolls around.
I think due to all the uncertainty, many students might be now going down the list and choosing the 2, 3, or 4th option. This could be due to safety, affordability, and distance. Just three weeks ago, the options would have been very different. Let’s say that the number 1 choice was “only” $7500 more per year but perhaps “worth it” because of different factors. Today, the actual instate safety school might now be the only option due to the market crashing or job uncertainty. I do think that the “online” option might be a game-changer for many. I have one kid home from an OOS school and for whatever is worth, she could either be at OSU, Harvard, or the local community college.
@Setter4life , I agree it will not be settled by May or even June 1 what schools are doing in the fall. Tuition at the schools my son is looking at ranges from say $7500 a semester to 30k a semester so there is a huge difference , esp if he is sitting home with online classes at home.
This whole situation is very unfortunate. Whatever decision you make, just make sure that financially, you are comfortable with it. Also, the hope is that this will eventually die down and everyone will be able to move on. I am hoping that in the next month or so, we will all have more clarity.
Note that the tuition you will pay is not just for online instruction. It is also a reservation for a guaranteed spot when the college resumes regular in person instruction. So while online might not be worth 30k/semester, some may feel it is a worthwhile cost for that spot at Harvard in January.
I was just about to post this question. We are having serious reservations about our son going to a top OOS flagship, vs. staying in CA now. The online learning situation is not worth double the money (based on what his options are right now). And while I agree this situation is evolving daily - we are having serious discussions about changing his selection. We have amazing public universities in CA and while he was emotionally attached to a particular top school in the Midwest, things are different now. So YES - we are evaluating.
I totally get changing the plan if finances have changed for the family. But, if the family feels that they will still be able to comfortably afford a more expensive OOS school and it was a student’s top choice, I would hesitate to make alternative plans.
While we are all concerned about fall, I would think it’s highly unlikely that kids won’t be on campus for second semester. Many of us who are full-pay are already paying $30k for tuition this semester, half of which will be online. We don’t really feel like we have a choice but for S19 to continue his sophomore year at his college as he loves it, the teaching has been fantastic and, even in this awful situation, the college has made him feel very taken care of. Would we cringe a bit to pay that much for next semester if it’s online? Ugh, yes. But hopefully he would be back on campus second semester for his soph year and get back in the swing of things.
I just think parents need to look at the long term not one semester. It would definitely seem like a premium to pay so much for online instruction for that first semester but, in the end, you are paying for the whole four year experience and a degree from that school.
Now, if you’ve got a second favorite that’s less expensive and closer to home, that’s great. Maybe it’s time to consider that as the best first choice now. But, for some families, I think it’s ok to bite the bullet and go with the dream school even if it’s more expensive. Super hard to go for it. I understand. With all of this uncertainty, it’s hard to make any decisions. I feel for the seniors and their families having to choose a school by May 1.
I know. I have been thinking about this.
Take a leave until it’s over? Transfer to less expensive school? If my child were in the freshman cycle it would probably impact choice greatly.
Good luck to all.
I would be very surprised if most colleges are still online-only by fall semester. We will get past this virus, and life must go on in any event. This level of social distancing is very unlikely to continue for even more than 3 months in my opinion.
A real concern and maybe even a possibility is whether the Fall semester will even be a go. Freshmen are always required to attend orientation programs at the majority of the schools. A returning student already knows the insights of a school, but a new Freshman will need a little more hand-holding or guidance especially at larger schools.
I can see how a large school might even allow a student to enroll in the Spring Semester instead of the Fall semester. The question you proposed is in everyone’s mind right now. All these HS kids have been looking forward to this moment and right now everything is on hold. Obviously, we have larger problems in our hands with no end in sight.
Some highly desirable and difficult schools might still be in play for many no matter what the situation is (Ex OOS Michigan, or OOS UCLA, etc) but I can see how an OOS acceptance to the University of Minnesota or Michigan State even with a merit scholarship might no longer be an option when you are in-state for Rutgers or Mizzou. The extra $60K would have been totally worthwhile a few weeks ago is no longer viable. I will not even be surprised if students are forfeiting their deposits and changing their minds. My son has yet to commit he will probably wait until the last minute. As it is, he was admitted to one of his top choice schools for Summer B and what seemed like absolute yes a few weeks ago is now in the back burner.
I’m not sure how my D20 feels, but for me, paying pricey LAC tuition bothers me less than paying OOS tuition for a massive public school.
The reason is that if she’s going to have her first-semester taught remotely, I’d rather that class be a 25 person class than some massive Intro class of 200 people. Alternatively, I’d just rather have her start on campus in the spring. My sense is that LACs might be easier to navigate in this regard but I might be wrong.
None of these are real options right now bc D20 still has yet to hear back from 7-8 schools. When she began this journey, she was sure that she wanted to move to another part of the country and that she wanted a large campus/large student body. Now she seems to be wavering (and I’m sure glad we convinced her to apply to a handful of smaller schools!).
We’ll know a lot more by April 1, but for each school she is seriously considering, we will ask what contingencies they have made for remote learning/delayed orientation in Fall 2021. If the school doesn’t have a good answer, it will raise a red flag.
Personally, I’m certainly eliminating all expensive schools from my list & looking at a gap year (I am interested in Politics so I likely would request to defer my enrollment until maybe the spring so I can work on a political campaign).
I know that our high school senior is full of emotions due to the way her school year has changed. I don’t want to force her to make a college selection decision, yet, but I feel pretty certain that I am going to insist that she go ahead and put her deposit down on the nearby state school & put a housing deposit down on their honors college dorm. Freshmen housing is not guaranteed, so I don’t want her to lose out on a spot, especially when I think the demand will be high in our large metropolitan area. Our less expensive state school is NOT where she had planned on attending, as she envisioned herself trying life in a distant state. But the current state of the country is something that none of us would have ever imagined, and I can’t see a lot of the current high school seniors feeling comfortable about moving far away in five months.
We also have a college student who attends an OOS flagship. We have already signed a lease for her off campus apartment, and I know that she hopes to be moving in with her friends in August. But is it realistic at this point?
I have no experience in academic administration, but how are all of these schools, elementary through the university level, going to be prepared for Fall 2020? I don’t see it happening. I can’t even wrap my head around how they plan, financially, at this point.
I think In-State schools are going to see an influx of commitments. Even the secondary local instate options which do not have application deadlines are going to see a lot of enrollments, especially if online classes become the norm. Not many will be willing to pay OOS tuition or a lot of tuition for online courses being taken at home. Many will choose to enroll at schools close to home.
This is all so new and emotions are running high. It seems like the whole world has come to a stop and these high school kids can not even comprehend what has happened let alone the idea of not even attending college in the Fall. Just have to make sure we can all stay healthy and safe.
While this is all new for us, there have been similar disruptions in the past. Colleges stayed open during WW2 even if they were all male and most men were being drafted. Similarly, many colleges have survived through prior pandemics and disasters, even periods of temporary closure due to the oil crisis or student riots. Students still attend, and life does go on, with bumps.
@Auntlydia I can tell you that Bowdoin (and other LACs where our friends have kids) is doing everything they possibly can to keep kids engaged.
Bowdoin told us right away that room and board will be refunded. The school offered to pack kids up if they lived far away, will keep their stuff until it’s safe to return, and sent a pretty generously sized box of whatever the student would need from their room for the summer for no charge. S19’s professors reached out right away, even though the college made the decision to close during spring break, to say they are each working on a plan but also to say they are there if he needs someone to talk to. As other schools have cancelled graduation already, Bowdoin has stated they will not cancel. They intend to reschedule even if it’s a ways away. They think those seniors need to be celebrated.
President Rose is sending updates to parents every Tuesday and Thursday. The kids have been getting updates every day. There’s another virtual town hall today where he will answer questions that have come in. He’s already done one of these for the students and one for faculty (which students and parents can also attend). And there’s a FAQ page that is updated daily. The communication has been clear and real, not sugar coating any of this and admitting that it’s been emotional and difficult for all Bowdoin employees as well as the students but they are working hard to ensure real learning this semester.
Class hasn’t started yet. Kids are still on break. We will see how it goes. But, if the emails that S received are any indication, it seems the rigor will still be there and class will be as personalized as possible.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that big state schools are not matching this level of communication. Any big organization is likely to move slower than a small one so I get that. But we have been impressed by how the college is handling the situation.
Asking a college about fall contingency plan makes a ton of sense to me. I would love to know what kind of stuff you hear!
@homerdog is correct at least in comparison with Rutgers. Rutgers only let us know that they were cancelling class 2 days before they kicked us out and let us know that they were cancelling in person classes and having online classes after every other college in NJ. 2 people at Rutgers got coronavirus already but we only got an email about 1 of those people (and for some reason only a couple people at Rutgers did?) Rutgers is the last to announce anything because it takes a long time for administration to make a decision since it is such a large school and it is stressful on the student body as well as staff. Some staff don’t even have an online lesson plan yet. They only let us know room and board is refunded yesterday and that all classes were online for the semester yesterday or the day before, and we can only get our stuff in April (after most people moved out in a rush, including oos and international students) after scheduling an appointment.