Daughter’s school has a 3 yr campus housing requirement. I suggested she start looking for an apartment with some friends if there is no assurance she can live with them as expected in the dorm… and it’s not even an option at this point…only juniors can apply to live off housing, not sophomores. So she will be stuck with whatever off campus but school controlled housing that is made available to her. And this is interesting: All students living in the town in which the campus is located – on-campus and off-campus – will be required to observe the practices being implemented to curtail the spread of the virus (e.g. wearing masks, monitoring symptoms, and maintaining social distancing).
@homerdog Harvard decided to be completely remote for six of their professional schools. According to an earlier poster, In a Zoom conference a few days before that announcement came out, Harvard said one option they were looking at was putting undergrads in graduate/professional student housing. Previously it was unclear how they would do that, but coupling that with professional schools going online, that makes a lot of sense. Still shocked they would do that though.
This friend of mine with the Harvard student has had four children go to Harvard. She is an alum as is her husband and her parents. She is still very involved with the university. She’s been hearing rumblings that undergrads may not be on campus. They may only welcome back those who are truly disadvantaged by having to take class from home. They’ve also said they will not limit leave of absences.
Re guests in rooms - MIT sent out a freshman survey and all of the “scenarios” prohibit guests in MIT housing.
The distancing/rules described in the “on campus” model, which I fully support for safety reasons, did not seem more appealing than living at home. And remember, I think MIT is typically a great place to be on campus.
(We are lucky in that we’re also walking distance (a far walk) from campus so if DS wants to do some hybrid then we can probably accommodate that. I say “lucky” but actually the near-ness was a factor in his college selection because of the virus.)
I can’t think of a school that has said they won’t require masks inside. Outside gets a bit vague.
@2ndthreekids Do you think there will be a chance to name the kids your D intended to live with so that they can be put in the same building at least? I would call and ask.
Aren’t all colleges that have already done housing going to have to do this? I think we will be hearing about this a lot in the next few weeks. I don’t see why a student can’t name a few other students to be near. It wouldn’t be that hard to try to put them near each other if they are starting from scratch.
I haven’t heard any say (or speculate) that masks would be required in one’s dorm room though.
@fretfulmother Hm. If I read a directive that said no guests in the dorm, I might read it to mean no outside guests like people visiting. I don’t know that I would include fellow MIT students in that.
@homerdog I think the amount of knowledge alumni have, with regard to how their university operates, is not any greater than current students, and quite possibly may be less, unless said alumni now has an administrative job at the university. I don’t think having many family members who also went to Harvard or being currently involved as an alum would have any impact on how much knowledge you have, and I especially don’t think they would have more information than current students. Most of the updates we’ve been getting (at Amherst) have only been sent to faculty, students, and staff; not alumni.
This discussion about food is almost comical. 18-21 year olds will find ways to have fun, enjoy their meals with fellow students, meet new undergrads, and enjoy their time in college. For example, during SAH orders, D20 found ways to meet with her friends and eat lunch. They drove to a parking lot and sat on their cars (social distancing) with their own meal they brought. You don’t think college kids can find some space in a quad, lawn, covered patio, tents (which the college will erect), and common areas to socialize. Remember, the colleges are going to be doing regular testing of students so, as a group, the students will be a fairly virus free group and allowed to walk freely about the campus
These kids are going to be just fine and will find ways to have fun, I guarantee it! And what’s the alternative, live with mom and dad at home while all of their high school friends are off to college? That sounds like “hell” to me for an 18-21 year old.
BTW - D20’s college just sent out an email that they will be spreading out the freshman amongst the East and West campuses in as many singles as they can accommodate. Normally all freshman are in the East campus in doubles but they have to expand their housing options to other housing areas on campus.
They are also securing apartments and hotels for upperclassman who don’t want to live on campus in the dorms. Students will be able to request roommate preferences with the opportunity to create “blocks” of six students and identify preference of (housing) quads.
You could be right - it was quite brief on that point.
What you consider “hell” is how most traditional age college students attend college.
@ucbalumnus I don’t think that’s true. While most college students from my school aren’t living on-campus, the overwhelming majority of four-year college-bound students from my average public high school (which has a median income on par with the national average) go far away enough that it’s impossible to live from home while at college; they get their own apartments. If you count community colleges, it’s a different story.
ChemAm, community colleges are colleges. The students who go to community college are college students.
@“Cardinal Fang” Community colleges are a different story, but most students who attend FOUR-YEAR colleges (which this thread is largely focused on) are not commuting from their parents’ home. And I believe there are more 18 to 21-year-olds enrolled at a four-year college than community college (at my public high school, 50-60% of grads would attend a four-year college immediately after graduation, 20-30% would attend a community college).
@socaldad, I agree that the vast majority of returning students who already have friends and the most confident of freshmen (and/or those most willing to bend rules right away) will find ways to have fun. But freshman year is a HARD adjustment for a lot of students (even those who do everything to appear that they’re having fun). Don’t you read the flurry of posts we get from August well into winter titled something like “I have no friends 
“). These aren’t just the shyest extremes… I’d say more first-years than not have some insecurity and adjustment difficulty. The advice given by experienced college students and parents for initiating friendships are mostly things that will be a lot more difficult or awkward (therefor scarier for shyer kids) with masks, social distancing, and other restrictions. Kids who are especially confident, bold or socially-skilled will find ways around this but meeting/bonding can be really hard to do from six feet away.
As for the high school kids, that seems to differ from community to community. Where I live, social distancing walks or get-togethers sitting on cars like you describe just really isn’t a thing for teenagers. I wish it was universally the way you describe. Kids here are either totally isolated (except online) or they’re hanging out with friends with no distancing at all. The more careful families might restrict which/how many friends their kids can see, but if they get together, they don’t really distance. My D is not a follower and she”ll wear a mask in the rare times she goes to a store, but she still doesn’t want to be seen obviously keeping six feet away from another kid or to wear a mask in a social situation. D’s boyfriend can now come over and sit on the porch/patio a bit away from her, but she wouldn’t want to be caught dead having to do that in public and most of her friends would likely think it was weird if she asked them to.
What makes you assume that?
My experience with a title 1 school district with a 45% drop out rate, @ProfSD .
@ChemAM wrote
Very different at Wesleyan. The president there is very big on social media; keeps a blog; everything has been available to the general public. He had two live video updates for just alumni. That’s how I know so much. LOL.
The thread is about college in the fall. While community colleges are less likely to be dealing with dormitory issues, some are, and all are dealing with how to safely conduct classes and other social and academic activities. Please don’t minimize the situations they also face.