Is it worth it?

my S20 made it through his freshman year last year all online; it was so-so. Much happier this year.

I am increasingly incredibly thankful that my D16 took 5 yrs in undergraduate and didn’t start grad school until this year. Doing online architecture grad school at 80K a year sounds like an intense incredible waste. I can’t imagine the full-pay families all over paying that for the online experience at any college. But then again, i can’t imagine being able to write a check without blinking for college.

absolutely in no way would it have been worth it to my kids from my point of view right now. maybe things will soften over time.

Most people say they would make the same decision again and that the decision they made was worth it. Otherwise….

Remote was off the table for my D19. She came home from school in the UK mid March 2020 and decided at the end of that semester that she was taking a gap year. (She would have taken another if things didn’t improve starting fall 2021). She transferred and her experience thus far at her new school has been, according to her, great and almost normal. Made lots of friends, enjoying all in person classes, joined a few clubs, playing volleyball. Looking to do a maymester in Israel with her Greek professor. Masking is still required in certain circumstances but lots of off campus activities where no masking required.

We are full pay and there is no way I’d have paid for full time zoom university. My D took 2 online classes from Cornell during fall 2020 to get a few more general ed classes done (UK schools only take 3 a semester) for her transfer requirements and had an online internship as well.

I’m glad that online works for some students. But as previously noted the value of college isn’t just in the classroom education. If universities think online is the future of higher ed I think that will result in serious bifurcation because there will always be those willing to pay for in person education.

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ok - so i asked my S20 his thoughts - and he said YES it’d be worth it for that big name. so - what do i know!?

Another vote yes from me. I had two kids in two different mid size privates, across the country from each other. The one in NC was only home Mar-May 2020, and was in person otherwise. The one in CA was remote from March on. While I only have anecdotal stories from our state flagship which is in our city so many of my friends’ kids go there, it seemed as if being in a mid sized or private college still gave my kids the benefit of: More flexibility in terms of being in person or not , for the NC kid. Close relationships with professors and mentors, for both, especially the CA one who was a senior, and was able to scrabble together her senior year thesis projects etc. Small class size and individual attention to off set remote learning/hybrid learning impersonality.

That said, a friend’s daughter who was at a different mid sized private and doing all online and just being in her apartment with her roommates decided to transfer home and save all of that money, which seemed wise. While my daughter was in the same long-time remote situation at her school, as a senior, transferring home would have been a completely different option.

As with all college questions, it really depends on the situation, including finances, year at school, covid decisions, and the child themselves!

Also, no one could foresee that this would be SO MUCH of our kids’ college experience. Yes, looking back, if it is 3 out of 4 years, and say half online, that’s a huge factor. But none of us know that ahead of time.

Oh PS I don’t see going remote as a “failure to perform” at all.

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It’s really about how much normalcy a university can achieve. Spring 2021 was a trainwreck for my daughter when Duke instituted a shelter in place and it followed a need for her to isolate. Approximately 3 weeks in her room alone with no libraries, not common rooms, no dining, it wasn’t just remote classes - it was the total isolation - hell to the no. She will never do that again - it’s not just that it wasn’t worth $40,000 for the semester - there is no discount that makes that reasonable - hell you couldn’t pay ME to let her go through that insanity again.

Close campuses and send them home, if the alternative is that kind of restriction. Some big classes being remote - eh - she would have dealt with it. But when campus restrictions exceed what they would experience at home - close schools - they’re not keeping them open for the students, they kept them open to not refund housing and dining revenue.

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I agree if I had a high school senior and a crystal ball, I’d choose schools that will provide “normal” experiences. But I don’t think past choices predict future decisions. At my alma mater and also at my kids’ school, what they did in 2020-2021 vs what they are doing in 2021-2022 are unbelievably different. In both cases they were very, very cautious last year, and this year they both have happily offered very normal, vibrant in-person normal experiences (except masking during classes and easy frequent testing), so if someone was making a decision based on how they were LAST year, and assuming those restrictions would carry forward, they would have been wrong. And I imagine schools’ decisions will continue to evolve, based on evidence and seeing best practices at other schools that work, etc. It just seems difficult to predict, but it sure seems unlikely that any schools will go truly remote again, other than perhaps very limited/temporary responses to local crazy conditions.

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For us, it has definitely been worth it, but I think it depends upon the school, and the kid. My son is a junior at Denison, a smallish Midwest LAC. Denison sent its students home for the latter half of the spring semester of his freshman year and held classes remotely the fall semester of his sophomore year. Like most schools, the remote-from-home semester was not perfect, as the school was scrambling to put things into place, some teachers did not flourish in that environment, etc. But it was OK, and good, creative teachers found ways to make it work in interesting ways, even for my son, who was participating from Japan. The remote/hybrid semester was fine - my son went back to campus and enjoyed the semester a lot. It helped that the campus was still open and he had many opportunities to interact with his professors and his fellow students even in the remote environment. Denison was creative, erecting big heated tents where people could gather in a socially-distanced way, building an ice-skating rink, etc. The track team (and other teams I assume) also continued to practice in a relatively normal way. I think all of this helped the school get buy-in from the students on masking and other policies like limiting guests in rooms. From spring semester 2020 on, things have been pretty normal, although track meets were modified to avoid big crowds, etc. The number of cases at Denison have been consistently low, and we are very grateful to the school for the obvious effort they’ve put into finding the right balance between keeping people safe and providing the college experience people anticipated (I should add that OSU’s medical team, based a half hour away, have been a valuable resource and source of guidance for Denison.) We haven’t heard yet what the school’s plans are for this upcoming semester, but based on their performance so far, we expect it will be OK.

So that’s the school part of my answer. But even though Denison’s handling of the situation has been exemplary, I’m sure there are students who haven’t been as happy as our son. I wouldn’t say that he is easy-going, but it seems that he has looked upon all of this as an interesting experience. The things he really cares about - and that definitely includes being on campus - have largely been preserved, and there is a feeling that he, his classmates and teammates, his professors, school administrators, etc. are all going through this together. I honestly think that these strange couple of years will be a source of strength for him in the future.

On the other hand, his sister, who is two years younger, thrives on remote learning. She was studying at an online high school when the pandemic struck, meaning nothing really changed for her, and she is going to start a B.S. program at ASU’s online university next month. The traditional college experience holds zero magic for her. We were very happy with Laurel Springs, her online high school, and, so far, ASU Online seems brilliant. As always, the best answer will be different for different kids and different families.

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It makes no sense to pay that kind of money for food and an expensive dorm to take online classes. You can do that at any local community college for almost nothing. How long the madness continues is anyone’s guess. I guess that’s why half the country is moving to Texas. Masks are optional at all schools, colleges, and universities.

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Maybe optional at all public colleges/universities but I know that as of last week Trinity is requiring the vaccine, booster and masks indoors.

Vaccines and boosters are recommended, but still optional at Trinity.

You are correct - I misinterpreted their website. Not required but suggested and they ask students to report their status, which threw me off. Nearly 94 percent of students are vaxxed which is pretty high compared to some other schools I’ve researched that don’t require it.