For now it is the well-endowed elite schools that were most able to absorb the room and board refunds they promptly issued their students for the unused part of the spring semester.
I think all schools reimbursed for room and board for spring. If this goes into fall, no one in campus housing is going to pay for took and board. The question will be what will tuition be.
I hope everything does fall into place for the fall. The virus could make all the speculation moot if it keeps spreading or mutates.
I’m very skeptical that colleges will have all their lab supplies for undergrads. Too much disruption and too much demand from the medical and research sectors on a global basis.
Colleges are going to have to know by the summer registration periods whether the labs will be ready for the fall. That gives them about 3 months from today. Considering we’ll be on lockdown for at least another month or two that doesn’t leave much room for error. One way to mitigate this risk is to open more sections for non-lab sciences or other core classes and let kids get those out of the way during fall semester.
Then there’s the international students and travel issues.
My fear is that schools will be under enormous pressure to get school started in the fall. Will they say “all is well” knowing that they’re short on necessary supplies?
I also see this as an all-or-none situation. Either all schools open or all go online. No half-and-half. How would it look if only the wealthiest T20 schools opened for business this fall and everyone else had to “make do”? The optics and blowback on that scenario would be awful.
The uncertainty with how colleges will handle classes for the coming fall is what keeps me from putting down that commitment money. If online classes continues this fall, which I think is possible, is it worth to pay thousands of dollars for online classes? If that’s the case, I would suggest to my son to defer if possible for a transfer student until next year when majority of the population gets herd immunity from covid19 or a vaccine comes out which will be for another 12-24 months. Or just explore online degree until the pandemic and our economy becomes stable.
It depends on if you think you are paying for the college experience, course and curricular content that differs from other colleges, or college name (prestige and/or effects on post-graduation destinations).
My D20’s school says they will take requests for deferral for first years until 7/1. As a music major, this is likely what we would do if her school goes to online teaching in the fall. She would be missing out on way too much and given that participating in ensembles is a requirement for her major, I’m not sure she would be able to graduate on time? In the grand scheme of things, delaying for a year isn’t the end of the world. Now I’m not sure they are actually going to approve all these deferrals… She can’t be the only one who has this plan.
@murray93 your D is a current college student, right? Not an incoming freshman…
No, she will be graduating high school this year and hopefully starting college in the fall.
@murray93 Thanks so she would take a gap year. I think that’s easier for colleges to accept than current students taking leave of absences because they can grant gap years and then still fill this year’s class with kids who want to start. If a lot of current students want to take a semester off, that’s more of a problem affecting cash flow and eventually making a mess out of housing, etc
Obviously every student and his/her family has to decide what makes sense for them, but in my case, I wouldn’t want my S to do anything else other than continuing his current course of study regardless how the fall term will be structured. We very highly value his experience at his college, to the extent we don’t want him to leave his campus to study aboard anywhere for even any period of time. Online classes are certainly far from ideal, but they may still be the best options under circumstances. He’s taking his classes virtually now and I hope he can still interact with his professors and fellow students virtually at the same level as before (and perhaps even more efficiently in some way). There’ll certainly be some new issues but none of them can’t be overcome, I believe, with everyone involved determined and smart enough to overcome them.
I would definitely feel differently had she already started college. My thoughts right now, though, are why begin your schooling in such a strange way? Especially in a major that requires in-person interactions for hours at a time, every day? As well as individual performance requirements. It’s just not anywhere close to being the same.
@1NJParent I dare say that what a family is paying seems to be directly affecting whether they are ok with keeping their kids in school if classes are online. Bowdoin’s school newspaper did a survey and 76% of kids surveyed (out of 200 kids) said they would take a leave of absence. All of S19’s XC friends’ families have decided the same. Not knowing what the kids’ options are otherwise is an issue. But facts are facts and many families are not going to pay $30k for online classes for the whole semester. This leaves colleges in a very difficult situation and I don’t know what the answers are.
My son is handling online classes just fine. Not ideal but he is learning now question. He is a senior next year and could graduate in the fall. But he wants a second minor that he feels will help him plus let’s face it. It’s the last time he can take just about any amazing courses /subjects at this level, for free! With what we are paying I want him to stuff as much knowledge into his brain now!
Both his next 2 semesters will be his lowest credit ones so in theory should be much easier and relaxed. I am more concerned that he can “walk"across the stage to get his diploma. My daughter this year” might "not get that honor . Her school is deciding next week . Their commencement is later May but we more or less know it’s going to be virtual.
Bowdoin is not going to allow 76% of its current students to take a one year break.
Should be interesting to see how schools, especially the smaller, more expensive ones, handle this. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Can’t make the students come back, and I expect many schools (including some very good ones) are likely to take transfers very late into the summer…which will be interesting if some schools are on campus and some are remote.
ETA: There are many schools who would love to get some of these elite LAC students as transfers.
@homerdog Yes, $30k is a steep price to pay for online classes. However, a delay in graduation is even a higher, perhaps a much higher, price to pay, IMO, in terms of economic cost alone. There’re also other costs in the delay besides economics.
I understand the dilemma for full pay families at private schools…they don’t want to pay $30,000 for a semester of online education. Many have worked hard, saved, etc in order to provide their children with this college experience.
There are also families who worked hard, scrimped and saved to send their child to a school that “only” costs $45,000 a year. That family may be paying $15,000 for a semester of online education. To these families, $15,000 for a semester of online education is also a lot of money.
Every family needs to do what they are comfortable doing. This whole thing is a disaster…regardless.
“Yes, $30k is a steep price to pay for online classes. However, a delay in graduation is even a higher, perhaps a much higher, price to pay, IMO, in terms of economic cost alone. There’re also other costs in the delay besides economics.”
I am thinking the exact opposite. Who wants to rush out into the work force in this economy? It’s going to take years to repair this mess.
I think there will be large discounts for online classes. It’s a reality that schools might not allow kids back to campus till winter. I would take that financial break in a second. Education won’t falter. It’s really honestly going to be very interesting what’s going to happen this fall. Think about it. The summer is usually a time to go to the orientation and meet with your counselor and pick classes. How does a school like Michigan do this with so many students? Sure online but seeing students back to back and scheduling goes long etc. Going to be a minor nightmare.
May depend on how close the student is to graduation. A senior may want to kick the graduation date later. A frosh may be more likely to see a recovery by graduation.
But also, if lots of seniors delay graduation, then those who do not may be smaller in number and have better chances of finding jobs.
Also, what to do during a gap semester is another question.