@H0llyw00d isnyour district only closed for a few days or until further notice? I have heard of a couple of districts that are closed today and maybe tomorrow as they await results from CDC.
A large school district in our area (but not ours) closed down for today due to a case involving a teacher who had been in close contact with students and staff at several schools. Supposedly that district will be announcing further decisions as of 5pm today. So far I donât see any SAT test center closings in our area, but that could change with whatâs going on in this other district.
Weâve decided to cancel our entire Spring Break school visit trip - tonight we will work on contacting airlines, hotels, rental cars, schools, dog sitter etc. ugh.
Not sure yet whether we will ultimately be able to get to all 3 of these schools - have to discuss whether itâs worth going in the summer, if thereâs another way to squeeze it in, etc. On the off chance that things are contained and calm down, maybe weâll try to reschedule for mid April while being ready to cancel again. I think weâll lose the money on some of the flights since one leg of the trip was booked on JetBlue, and they are only allowing rescheduling for those who booked their trips a few weeks ago (which is illogical to meâŠthey are allowing rescheduling if you booked while you knew COVID 19 was a thing but they are not allowing rescheduling if you booked months ago before you could have known COVID 19 would be a thing)? Itâs a stretch for us to afford these trips, so Iâm not sure weâll end up making them all happen now.
@AndreaLynn, For now, weâre closed for a few days and waiting for more information.
@nichols51 I canât believe Jet Blue is only accommodating folks who booked trips over the last few months. Many others are allowing people to change their flights with no fees (not that you can get a refund)âshame on them.
@H0llyw00d itâs even worse than that⊠JetBlue is only accommodating people who booked from February 27 onward. So thatâs less than two weeks ago. They are not allowing changes without a penalty if you booked before February 27!
@nichols51 Thatâs disgusting. Itâs not a buyerâs remorse situation!
@socaldad2002 I hate to hear about the online test. What about interview and speech and superquiz (which is fun for them)? And boy I know how hard these kids
have prepared since last summer. That really stinks!!!
@momtogkc That is heartbreaking for your D and the others. That really skinks.
@nichols51 I have always had good luck with Jet Blue at least giving me credit if I have to cancel a flight, not sure if I was just lucky or if they do this often. This just came in an email though so looks like you might be OK now.
âCurrently, all change and cancel fees for travel through 4/30/20 are waived, regardless of when you purchased your ticket. And, there are no change or cancel fees on new flights booked through 3/31/20 for travel until 9/8/20. Our customer support team is ready to support you with adjustments if you need assistance.â
Thanks, @momtogkc - it looks like they got enough pushback from customers that they changed the policy. Phew. Just cancelled all 3 college visits. 
So weirdâŠPrinceton cancelled in person classes, but Dâs quiz bowl trip there next week is on. HmmmmâŠ
Corona virus stinks. Had to cancel D21âs spring break trip because 2 of her schools already cancelled. So, I booked her with S21 and dad this am, on their trip (not ideal, but I save money on our trip and dogsâ boarding), now Penn cancelled all visits, which they were driving to from Baltimore and then flying to Northwestern. Now what? I have no idea when the kids can see these schools. We live a full dayâs travel awayâŠMaybe this is a sign that the kids need to go somewhere closer to home!
@havenoidea Iâm with you. This stinks. Every day brings more bad news. All we can do is hope this peters out sooner rather than later so our kids can get to visit these schools before they apply. We just have no idea how this is going to go. If this goes on through the summer, I think many of our 21ers are going to have to apply to schools they havenât seen and that would decrease the number of kids using ED.
Yep, just finished cancelling our Arizona trip for next week. The two schools are still on but we didnât feel comfortable traveling particularly since I work in a clinic treating all elderly people - I didnât want to come back and be Patient Zero. We are looking at driving to Austin for a couple of days (lots of hotel rooms open now since SXSW was cancelled!) and then going to the Hill Country for a few days.
Any of my Texas friends have any Hill Country recommendations? Weâve never been. Particularly recommendations on what a 16 year old would like??
DS21 does not want to cancel our tripâŠtold me heâd be fine going by himself so I donât get exposed, lol. Iâm just waiting for the schools to cancel tours and tell people to stay away so that I donât have to be the bad guy. Are you listening University of Florida University of Central Florida University of Miami Arizona State? Oh also America Airlines can you please get with the program like United Airlines and cancel rebooking fees for trips scheduled in January? Pretty please?
We are probably going to cancel our Spring Break trip also. Two campuses have cancelled tours and are moving to on-line instruction and I suspect more will follow. We still have some time before I have to make a decision but I suspect conditions will continue to deteriorate in the coming days.
Mostly, I feel badly for students who are being told they canât come back to campus and have to shift to on-line classes. I feel especially badly for graduating seniors who are having the end of their college experience cut short.
Just found out that American Airlines is also advertising theyâve suspended cancellation fees. Sorry kiddo, spring break college visits arenât happening for us.
Jumping on for the first time- have D21 who is supposed to go to Boston to tour a few schools. Got an email from Northeastern that they are still doing tours. I think it would be hard to shut down campus, since kids are on co-ops etc. We will lose out on a lot of money on our hotel.
We are also scheduled to fly from Boston to Orlando to visit D18 who is doing the Disney College Program. No matter what- we will go down there. She is a student at UCF- they would have a hard time shutting down as well, since so many kids have jobs at Universal and Disney. Her dorm has a lot of kids from China- they canât get sent home. They are on Spring break- but a lot of kids are still at the dorms, including D18- they donât close over breaks.
Meanwhile, we already have Coronavirus in our cityâŠ
I wonder if colleges will now put less emphasis on demonstrated interest given that so many are going to be unable to visit campuses this year?
I think they probably will, certainly understand why a student couldnât visit. Still do the rest thoughâŠsign up for emails, engage with the AO, etc.
Depending on SAT/ACT accessibility, we might see many schools be at least somewhat more flexible with test requirements, if not fully test optional. Time will tell.
I was looking at one collegeâs website and they offered an online, live webinar information session. It would be nice if more colleges offered that. Gives the opportunity to ask questions in real time vs just watching a video.