My kid thinks it is very likely that there will be a wave of coronavirus as soon as school reopens, and that the dorms will close again by October. Kid cancelled housing, plans to take online classes. I fully support this decision - I too am convinced that campuses will close as soon as coronavirus pops up.
Has this issue come up in your household? I know colleges are all trying to reopen the campuses for Fall semester, but I don’t see how they’ll be able to stay open for in-person learning, what with the risk to faculty members. Do your kids plan to return to campus?
My undergrad college has announced a modified calendar and has re-scheduled fall classes. Many of the classes will be offered in distance-friendly format so that faculty and/or students who are not able to be on campus can still teach/learn. Some classes will only be in on-campus format - presumably those with lab components. I expect there will be a fair number of students who elect to just study from home.
My daughter’s college has not announced its finalized plans, but it is likely to be a hybrid solution. My daughter and 2 friends decided to cancel campus housing and instead signed for an apartment a few blocks from the university. In this way, they will not be crammed into a triple. The flip side is that if on-campus classes are cancelled partway through the year, no housing refunds for us.
Yes, my kid is returning to campus. Upper division courses, lectures, labs, etc. are typically less than 50 students and her school is limiting class sizes right now and reconfiguring classrooms. Wipes, masks and hand sanitizer will be available to all.
Mine is also going back, but he lives off campus. School just posted fall plans yesterday - no triples, masks required in all classes (there are no huge lecture halls), no buffet food or self serve drink options in the cafeteria. They also upgraded tech so all in person classes can be completed virtually if a student or prof isn’t comfortable going into the class.
My sophomore son who is on meds that compromises immunity is planning to go back. At least 2 of 4 classes are online…dorm situation, no roommate. He had a video appt with his specialist dr and the dr was ok with him going back…covid 19 is so unpredictable in how it reacts in a person. The dr gave him the the choice to make. I asked the question as to whether it would be crazy to go back and the dr didn’t indicate that it would be although my son would be at a slightly higher risk than peers. His condition is not lung related.
I’m concerned about my D’s school reopening plans. But she lives off campus so will go back and if they go completely online due to a huge outbreak (which I think is very likely), she will stay off-campus.
I feel confident with the amount of testing and turn around time for results planned at my son’s school as well as the mitigation efforts. They have cleared dorms for quarantine and sick. They will be contact/tracing, distancing, cleaning, and requiring of masks. Covid19 is not going away anytime soon nor do I feel confident there will be a safe/effective vaccine scaled for all Americans in January or perhaps even a year from now but we have to go on. We can not hide and shelter and stop living. We must learn to live with the virus. Very few people have the luxury of truly staying home and sustaining their families. Those who are able to truly shelter in place are relying on those who don’t to survive. Fine for them but our family will carry on as safely as possible. I completely respect those who choose to continue school online.
With that being said I do want my children to get Influenza vaccines as early as possible. It could be especially dangerous if its possible to get both Covid and Influenza at the same time or I’d hate to be run down from Influenza and then expect the body to be strong to fight Covid19. Let’s hope the Influenza vaccine is a good match this year. I remember Dr. Birx saying they expect to have both Covid19 and Influenza here at the same time.
Aside from a select few, colleges and universities have to open or they will financially go under. That is also true of our economy. There really is no choice. I’m not interested in living through the next Great Depression.
Mine is going back to live off campus apartment. Looks like her chem lab, discussions, and 1 lecture will be in person. The other 4 lectures will be online.
My son is already living off campus (in his college town) and taking courses online. Will see how this fall goes. His classes are typically less than 25 persons already so we think their plan to move forward with some f2f in fall will work out.
Discussion in our house is exactly opposite. School in large city and nothing is final yet - should know by mid-july of final plans - but D19 and some of her friends are keen to go back (D19 hopefully in a single in a dorm but off campus if not) even if all classes end up being online, and we support that. She hated the isolation of studying online from home during the second half of spring semester and even for those classes that are not in person they want to have study groups for motivation, etc. At no stage are we kidding ourselves that colleges can enforce social distancing outside the classrooms so we are aware there is a risk, and if D was immune compromised or similar this would be a different conversation. (The school will obviously have quarantine plans in place for students who do get sick and we have close family in the city so that also helps ease some concerns.)
my oldest is going to get apartment in her college that is in a city Even if classes are online. Also will stay there even if they things go back to SIP. Same with my S19. he has his own bedroom in a 4 bedroom campus owned apartment. I think even if everything goes to SIP /online he would rather it do it there, than at home. He is at least with peers. I know I am paying for this, but doing it from their room here in suburbia is not ideal. They have been home since March and has not been good for either of them.
D20 is still on the fence due to an underlying chronic health condition, but hoping to be on campus.
I’m just not sure how it might affect her financial aid if she chooses to work online from home - we’re waiting to hear back from her school’s financial aid office.
She’s going to a private University with a small scholarship and a grant that make up about half of the cost of attendance in total, leaving us to pay the other half out of pocket. Just worried they will take away part/all of her grant if she isn’t on campus. How are other schools handling financial aid for students who choose to attend remotely?
@samsmom20 if she has an underlying health condition and is registered with the disabilities office, I would think it would be illegal for them to take away any of her grant, since she faces more risk going back on campus. This would be an expected accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. PM me if you like.
@samsmom20 we spoke to son’s dr. last week with concerns about whether he should go back with a chronic illness that requires a medication that weakens his immunity and he left it to son after explaining some of the facts for the particular med he is taking and said he would be willing to write a note to the school if Ben had concerns about returning. I would think a dr explanation to disability office would help the situation…but I think at this point he plans to return.
My sr is not going back fall semester. All of her courses are being offered strictly online in the fall. She is pocketing the $$ for fall semester housing to use toward her masters. (She is part of a 5th yr accelerated masters.) She is planning on going back in the spring.
She has gone down the rabbit hole and has some interesting ideas of what to do if she is not tied to campus. Maybe her friends spend 3 months in Southern California, 1 month skiing in Colorado, and then 4 months in France. Maybe she nabs a paid internship and stays home. Maybe she stays home, saves the R & B money for a 3-4 month trek around the world after graduation. Maybe she just goes back to school and rolls with the virus.
Mine is going back but has cancelled his housing contract in order to move off campus. As far as we can tell, some of his classes will be in person and some online but his school has not said anything definite yet so this is just reading the tea leaves. He will stay in his college town to do his classes even if everything goes online. Being at home last spring was not good for him or us.