Does postponing fall term mean no online fall classes either?
This is the one of the few times I am glad to be living in a rural state. Top ten testing rate, very low positive test %, and hospital capacity able to handle a worse case surge.
Iām so thankful S20 was able to visit his top 4 and made a quick decision. We have yet to hear any speculation at University of Denver. DU has a 6+ week break between 1st and 2nd quarter, so they could push fall start date back nearly 4 weeks and still be able to finish on time.
Trying not to stress things I canāt control.
Oh man, I hadnāt thought about it like that. Plus, the new students trying to learn to find their way around campus right at the coldest part of the year. I feel like itās easier when itās warmer, because youāre not trying to use tunnels and itās not a big deal if you take a wrong turn. Or end up waiting longer than you expected for a bus (S20 will be living on West Bank and will probably have a class or two in St. Paulā¦).
@myrna97 - I was figuring the first couple months in the Fall there would be a lot of exploring by bike and wandering around just checking things out in their new home. Who wants to do that in January? Theyāll just move into their dorms and hole up there. Oh well, just wait and see what happens I guess.
Plus so many fall orientation activities are suited to August / September, but not January. My daughter is probably going to be in Chicago, and thatās not going to be much better than MN in January
Our governor (Ohio) just addressed the issue of colleges being opened up by fall. He sounded very pessimistic. 
I canāt imagine dorms would be allowed to operate as typical at this point. So disappointing for many but unlikely.
Somewhere I read about a model that opens dorms mid year as singles and working up. Even that sounds depressing. Alone in a large dorm building not much better than online at home with parents.
Iām sure the colleges are all brainstorming ideas right now and Iām just going to hope that they come up with something that works for usā¦I am thankful we chose the closer/cheaper school now though.
I was thinking today about what my son would do if he DIDNāT attend school on campus in the Fall and my guess is heād just be sitting on the porch with his headset on talking to his friends the same as he does all day now and working in the evenings. He might as well be taking his Fall semester classes online if thatās all heās going to do.
I think part-time would be a good alternative to full time online fall freshman year. Any thoughts? Does that require notification of some sort. Some of these kids have worked hard and planned to graduate in 3 years. With one year online that does not leave much college experience and individual growthā¦
I think more than a few of us would like to see a list of schools who are going to do whatever it takes to open. I think a very small school that would commit to small classes, spread out dorms, sanitary conditions would have a good marketing position. Just think it might be interestingā¦
Replying toā¦
@bgbg4us I think its more unlikely than likely at this point. I am sure there will be some outliers that open no matter what. Schools with their own agenda or schools on the cusp of bankruptcy that will take the gamble but T20s and more big state schools? I canāt see it for the fall semester.
I would love to be proven wrong and for those to be fixed quickly but I donāt see that in the cards.
I think we would have to notify if we only intended to attend part time because of our financial aidā¦which leads to another question I have. What will happen with the aid packages if there is no room and board component? Iām such a planner and hate having to guess at all of this stuff!
āāThese results suggest caution in reopening colleges and universities for face-to-face instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,ā Weeden and Cornwell wrote in their working paper.ā
My student has a $3,000/year renewable merit scholarship that requires attending full-time to keep, so heāll be taking classes online if thatās what the university is offering. Plus I donāt know what heād do with his time fall semester if heās not taking a full-time course load, not working on campus, not joining a fraternity, etc.
@Momofmanytoo Correct. If a college opens in January then no class until then. The school year starts in January and ends sometime in the summer.
FWIW - my D20 said she is ok with this proposed schedule versus online fall and back on campus spring.
Would definitely make for a long academic calendar year (continuous spring, summer, fall classes) in 2021 with little breaks. Again, this would be bad for any of the normal summer classes that student take as well as internships, research, travel, or jobs to make money.
Any ideas what other countries are doing in terms of fall?
@socaldad2002 but the Jan-summer option lets colleges collect room and board and will hopefully result in a much more ānormalā first semester than would be expected if the kids go in August. From the standpoint of trying to preserve the expected experience of college, this plan hits the mark. It wonāt be for every school. Dare I say that universities where football is a big deal would have issue with it. But, if itās determined that football canāt even be played or has to be played without fans in the stands, maybe it wonāt matter.
@NYC2018nyc, as far as I know, Russian universities are planning to be open in the fall. I too am waiting to see how it plays out.
The long road has finally ended. The University of Florida is it!!! Never in a million years would have guessed this is where S20 will end up. Never!!! But after much debating and with all the uncertainties of COVID19, S20 choose to go to one of the more affordable options and within a reasonable driving distance. I always thought he would end up at a BIG10 U or at his beloved UGA playground. This whole COVID19 has have had an unimaginable impact on all of these kids. The reality of all of this is that no matter where they choose to go to school, they might all end up at home for a semester or two. Incredibly disappointing for this whole situation for sure.
I honestly have no clue how this is all going to play out. But financially speaking this is going to a disaster for many institutions. I already know many families trying to figure out if the schools the kids have chosen are worth the premium or the distance. Unfortunately for them, they already declined many of the other options. They are seeing it first hand with their older college kids being displaced from schools.
If this situation extends well into the Spring of 2021, I wonder how it will affect the class of 21. As schools are struggling for enrollment, it might not be as difficult to gain admissions. Even well-endowed schools such as Ohio State U had to admit another 8000 students from their usual number. By the end of the day, if these schools are not able to open the dorms and their facilities and they are not able to field any of the sports teams, they are going to have to lower the OOS tuition (in the form of merit) from the currents 3 to 1 to a more palatable 1.5/1.8 to 1 in order to secure a class. I am actually surprised some schools are not even trying to do this with some of the current admits who have yet to commit. It looks like a win-win situation
A January to August school year works for rising college freshman, but what about juniors who need those crucial summer internships for jobs? Or rising seniors who actually have jobs that will start in June?