My son has one more quarter after the present quarter. He’s going to stick it out, whether the classes are online or in person.
What’s their alternative option? What do you think the 2021-22 school year will look like?
My son is a first year in the fall. He’s going to attend either in-person or online. We took a long-term approach. Two to three years vs the next 6 months. If we’re still having these conversations 2 years from now then I’ll think we’ll have bigger problems or people and schools will adapt and accept some risk. A vaccine isn’t a given. This might be the new normal.
If I had a full-pay rising college freshman, I’d seriously consider a gap year, just because I wouldn’t think I was getting my tuition money’s worth.
@chmcnm I think there’s no way things won’t be back to “pretty much normal” in the 2021-2022 school year. I think by that point we will either have a good treatment or most people will have gotten it or people would just say screw it.
@roycroftmom Exactly. All of my friends who stayed at Amherst are doing just fine, and some people on-campus have caught COVID.
I also have an acquaintance at Amherst who is on a student advisory team to President Biddy Martin and she says that they are VERY heavily leaning towards reopening for fall.
My D’s college is offering a third semester (Summer 2021) tuition-free (2 semesters of tuition must be paid) - as an option. So if we are forced online, she’ll just sign up for 2 courses online for fall, 5 for spring, and then can take 5 courses summer 2021 and get the full experience. It will cost R&B and tuition for 10 courses (instead of 12, in this case). If all goes well and they are on campus in the fall, she’ll go the full 5 courses on campus and can still attend in Summer 2021 for free tuition to get ahead, or choose not to.
I attended an online parent meeting for DS’s college the other day and they made it pretty clear that guidelines for what would be approved for gap years weren’t going to be changed…which I took to mean that just not wanting to go because of the covid changes to how classes would be delivered would not fly. The also pointed out that taking any classes anywhere would break the gap year contract and you would have to reapply as a transfer student.
I just don’t know what my son would do if not going to school? I guess he could work more, but I really worry about academic slide, especially math, as he’s an engineering major, so we’re just going with whatever happens.
He has a lot of financial aid and scholarship money though and I think he would lose the outside scholarships that are just for 20-21. I might feel differently if the financial outlay was more.
I have a child who has one more semester to go. As much as she would be very upset to be online as her final semester , it probably makes sense to bite the bullet at her expensive private. She cannot live on campus though, and rent is very expensive , and we need to commit to an apartment probably before they make a final decision.
If I had an incoming freshman it would depend on the child and what they would make of that year off. Could they be earning money or doing something productive.?
I think Spring might be worse than fall if weather is a factor with regular Flu, but a vaccine if at all possible or treatment might make spring ok. noone knows. It SUCKS! my Senior has had her entire life turned upside down and is not handling it well. From her summer job and unknown about school, to being isolated right now.
S finished his freshman year at in state public. He prefers the on campus classes but was an online Hs student for 3 1/2 years and comfortable with that setting. He has lowered immunity so we will consult with his doctor about the safety of returning to campus. He is taking a couple classes this summer and plans to return whether online or on campus in the fall. D has applied for dual enrollment full time at the state flagship and will need to take public transportation to get there. No changes in that plan but will also consult with son’s dr to find out what precautions to take if s is at home and D has increased exposure (which she would have whether in college or Hs campus). Lots to think about.
Don’t know the answer to this but it’s conceivable that all of the masks and social distancing next winter will lessen the chances of a “bad” seasonal flu period since it will be harder to spread the flu virus? In addition, you might have more people get the flu shot this year as more focus has been on vaccines lately. I normally don’t get a flu shot but will now seriously consider it this fall.
Students on FA need to sign up for “full time” course loads (probably 3 courses if the normal load is 4 courses, or 4 courses if the normal load is 5 courses) to get FA that semester.
Why not take full course loads for both the online semester and the semesters that you hope to be on campus? Then you can get three full semesters’ worth of courses for two semesters of cost. Of course, choosing which courses to take in the online semester may take some consideration in order to choose those which adapt best to online instruction (e.g. that huge entertaining lecture by a star professor that you are just taking to fulfill a general education requirement) rather than those that do not (e.g. courses with labs, art studio or performance, etc.).
I am not familiar with all of the classroom management systems, but Blackboard has a discussion forum section where students could possibly find others to communicate and collaborate with. My students did not use it this semester, but they were already connected, so maybe they were communicating by other means. Far from ideal, but it’s potentially something.
However, the remaining students in on-campus and off-campus housing are currently in much lower density situations than the normal state of a residential college.
I do not think tuition adjustment is very likely (and I am ok with that), but I also do not think that if MIT did that for fully online semester or two it would be damaging to the brand or lead to the eventual establishment of a two-tier system.
Not sure what they would do in a hypothetical situation of a huge uptick of deferrals, but I doubt most of their students would be interested in that. I know our son isn’t.
As for the wiggle room in the plan - I would find anything less to be simply irresponsible.
My D20 has just had a crap deal for her senior year. Missed out on all the year end concerts where she was featured. A culmination of four years of hard work. I just cannot IMAGINE she would accept another semester or two of being at home. We live in a rural area, so even online school is better than hanging around at home at this point. She is ready to move on from her high school friends and get some new musical and academic challenges. She wants the excitement and influence of new professors and musicians to keep her motivated. She’s been doing great on her own, but she can’t go on practicing by herself forever. I don’t know what precautions will need to happen in private lessons and ensembles, but I’m confident it will be figured out in the next 3-6 months.
But it’s not the same. My son just came home from University of Michigan and like no one was around campus
He stayed in his apartment but his roommate was local and went home. It’s not like that many were actually on the campus proper. An occasional jogger here and there.
The students getting boxed meals were very few as I watched some trickle into their community center buildings and ask the catering service. Yes, mostly internationals. But most wore masks.
My daughter’s at a Lac with 1300 student’s
Can’t tell you how many are left but it’s like a ghost town. She done on 2 weeks. She is with a roommate and her core group of 5 are in the next house down the block. They go for walks and eat by the river and they do social distance and wipe stuff down. I give them credit for taking it seriously.
@lloyddobler85 , I have a current college freshman and college junior. I believe that both would continue on with their online studies at their college and that would be my preference as well. If things are so locked down that college classes have to be 100% online, that means (my opinion) that we are still under stay at home orders so no travel, no jobs, no socializing, no volunteer opportunities. So there isn’t much meaningful to do in the gap year AND you are stuck at home inside your house with your parents and siblings without even the distraction and work of online courses. Would I think about doing the first year at a much cheaper college if I had an incoming college freshman? Yes. But since both have already started, no.
But maybe this question is easier to answer for me thinking that the entire year completely online will not be the case. I know it is a possibility but every school is trying as hard as they can to have some sort of experience that is not 100% online at home. And spring semester is a long way away.
If you want to read a fascinating take on how COVID-19 will effect education, read this.
“The Coming Disruption Scott Galloway predicts a handful of elite cyborg universities will soon monopolize higher education.”
(just add in the dot yourself since you get flagged when you try to put links in)
https://nymag(dot)com/intelligencer/2020/05/scott-galloway-future-of-college.html
Here’s part of the much longer article:
“There’s a recognition that education — the value, the price, the product — has fundamentally shifted. The value of education has been substantially degraded. There’s the education certification and then there’s the experience part of college. The experience part of it is down to zero, and the education part has been dramatically reduced. You get a degree that, over time, will be reduced in value as we realize it’s not the same to be a graduate of a liberal-arts college if you never went to campus. You can see already how students and their parents are responding.”
"At universities, we’re having constant meetings, and we’ve all adopted this narrative of “This is unprecedented, and we’re in this together,” which is Latin for “We’re not lowering our prices, bitches.” Universities are still in a period of consensual hallucination with each saying, “We’re going to maintain these prices for what has become, overnight, a dramatically less compelling product offering.”
In fact, the coronavirus is forcing people to take a hard look at that $51,000 tuition they’re spending. Even wealthy people just can’t swallow the jagged pill of tuition if it doesn’t involve getting to send their kids away for four years. It’s like, “Wait, my kid’s going to be home most of the year? Staring at a computer screen?” There’s this horrific awakening being delivered via Zoom of just how substandard and overpriced education is at every level. I can’t tell you the number of people who have asked me, “Should my kid consider taking a gap year?”
Because this will be her first semester at college and managing a full load remotely - for the first time - will be extremely challenging. Not going to set her up to fail. If she was a second year, or beyond, that’s another thing.