It’s hard to predict the correlation between stock markets and endowment returns these days given that private equities, hedge funds, real estate, and natural resources now outweigh public equities in most endowment portfolios. Effects of Covid could be much greater on endowments than on FAANG-dominated markets.
That’s an interesting way to handle orientation. At Rice, the freshman come on a Sunday for O-Week which goes through Friday. They are place in a group of maybe 7 - 8 freshman with 4 or so upper classmen as advisors. My D is an advisor this year and so far they haven’t gotten much information about what will be different this year. The President mentioned in an online townhall last night that they are looking at how they do move in to reduce crowds (usually all freshmen move in on Sunday morning before lunch and are given a specific time slot). The President commented that move-in is one of his favorite things to watch as the new students are greeted and their stuff is carried to their rooms. It will be interesting to see if they make any changes beyond spreading the time out so less people are arriving at once. There have also been comments about moving some of O-Week online. They do a LOT of academic planning that week and go to talks by various advisors. Some of that could be done online and early in the summer I guess.
This may have been posted here or elsewhere, but here is a survey of 10,000 college students about the economic impact of the pandemic on their college plans: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/04/more-than-half-of-students-probably-cant-afford-college-due-to-covid-19.html
My kid just heard through the grapevine (fwiw) that Tuft students were told in a Zoom town hall meeting that Tufts is going back to campus in the fall.
Dining halls will be open
Large lecture classes will be online
Virtual lectures are being prepared for students who can’t make it to campus
SAT/ACT requirement waived for next 3 years
Friend said NESCAC is still figuring out athletics.
@ChemAM , my D’s school (LMU) considered adding a J term this year, but that has now been discarded. The thinking was to stretch out that winter break even longer with kids not on campus (it was going to be all online), and provide make up time for kids that needed it (not sure if they meant due to sickness, adjusting to hybrid classes, or something else).
From The Ohio State University’s website:
June 3, 2020
The Ohio State University announced that it plans to resume in-person classes for the autumn semester.Specific guidelines will be announced in the coming weeks based on guidance from state and local health authorities and recommendations of the Safe Campus and Scientific Advisory Subgroup of the university’s COVID-19 Transition Task Force.
The resumption of full operations on Ohio State campuses will include a combination of the use of appropriate face coverings, physical distancing, hand hygiene, limited density in indoor spaces, control of the flow of traffic into and around buildings, continued employee teleworking when possible, testing, symptoms tracking and contact tracing. A teaching and learning approach that combines in-person and distance methods is also being developed.
https://president.osu.edu/leadership-and-committees/post-pandemic-operations-task-force
@TS0104 At our school, it’s not extending the calendar at all; so it doesn’t do any of those functions.
Per an email from Haverford last night:
“Planning for fall. Those of you who attended either of the student or staff/faculty meetups this week are now familiar with our current thinking about the fall semester: we expect to return to campus, and details about the rhythm of the semester will be communicated next week!”
I guess they’ve come down on the side of in-person. Hopefully that means welcoming everyone back who can/wants to come back, and not a predetermined subset of the student body.
The Physically Distanced Classroom: A Day in the Life
“You think maybe your sore throat really is a symptom of something more. Maybe tomorrow, you’ll call in sick and participate virtually”
A Day in the Life This Fall (Faculty Edition)
“After all, the dean reminds you, classes can still go on with students out sick. But they can’t continue if the professor isn’t there.”
Some colleges now require staff and graduate students (who’re returning to campus to restart research and other functions) to report their health statuses and log their contacts daily. Students may have to do the same in the fall.
@1NJParent Stanford has been using an app like that work a while now for staff. Maybe in the fall for all?
Beating what of course will be considered a dead horse in this crowd, but doesn’t it imply, if those that are most sheltered from financial fallout are most likely to stay online, that there is another, intrinsic reason for staying online? Like, maybe, safety?
Or is the power of students and families to say “open or go out of business,” more important? Because of course, schools would not go out of business, if people didn’t insist on f2f college experiences for this fall.
Don’t bother answering; the answer is clear. We could have both safety and continued education, but it has been made clear here that that’s not acceptable. So we’ll roll the dice on safety to preserve in-person education.
Also, see those very realistic articles @TheVulcan just posted. That’s what it’s going to be like. Enjoy!
I know this was posted a long time ago but I felt the need to respond. My D felt most of her professors did a decent (or more than decent) job with the switch to online. Honestly, the ones who were better instructors prior to going online continued to do better online and those who weren’t “as good” in person weren’t “as good” online. Regardless, she really didn’t like the experience. I’m sure she gave her professors good evaluations because they did do a good job, but it’s just not something she likes and it doesn’t fit her learning style well. She was miserable and very stressed out most of the time. But she wouldn’t blame her professors for that. She REALLY wants to go back to in-person classes when it’s safe to do so!
@PrdMomto1 Agree. If my son loved online learning so much in the spring then we’d bag sending him back to expensive college life and he could just get some degree online for a lot less money!
Everyone will need to sacrifice something, no one will be without discomfort.
^Discomfort, respectfully, is a tricky, I’m going to say weasely, word. You mean: some people will not like the manner of their educational delivery, some people will be very sick, and a few people will die.
Employees are sacrificing pay raises. Some are sacrificing their jobs. Those who are left aren’t eager to risk sacrificing the lives of their coworkers or their families.
FSU’s new covid testing center/processing lab appears to be coming together: https://floridastate.rivals.com/news/fsu-s-new-covid-testing-center-could-be-key-factor-in-return-for-football
I guess one good thing about attending a school that is highly motivated to keep their football season going in the fall is that they are going to be pretty serious about testing and tracing.
Fortunately no one can be forced to be employed, and some institutions specialize in just online learning, so that may be a better fit for some instructors.