“will be meeting f2f with all of his professors more than once a week via Zoom”
Ok but f2f and zoom are totally different experiences, one tries to emulate face to face and collaboration because it’s not real face to face or collaborative.
In the good old days, I mean if you got sick, you communicated it by email or phone but office hours was the best if you could. If you couldn’t, your friends or classmates told the professor what was going after class face to face and asked how the student could make up the work.
I had a chance conversation with someone on the board for an elite boarding school similar to Phillips Exeter or Andover. I think what he said is very similar to what we’re seeing at private colleges.
He said they’re 100% open in the fall and will require all students to be on campus. No commuters. He said they would have the usual test on arrival, 14 day isolation, etc., but only masks for staff.
They will test staff regularly after that, but not students because students won’t leave campus.
They will test sewage. He said that is actually the most important test. I asked how hard was it to find capacity for that, and he said they made sure a large public school nearby had funding to do the tests. Yeah, I know funding could mean a lot of things. He said that when COVID-19 is detected in the sewage they will test/isolate until there is no COVID-19 in sewage.
He said they talked extensively with other boarding schools, colleges, and the state experts. They ran different plans by the state and the state told them the likelihood of success. He said the key was they could isolate the students from the world.
They will have all the normal sports and activities, but it’s doubtful they will play interact with other schools.
I asked why NE Lacs are not able to do the same thing, and he said it comes down to the boarding school’s ability to force the students to comply. He mentioned colleges were well aware that their students would still be partying/socializing without masks, and that is the difference.
I think these schools are hoping that students decide to stay home. As @homerdog and others have commented here, that may just be wishful thinking. Prohibiting student access to campus as Bowdoin and Yale plan will hopefully discourage some from renting in the immediate college area.
Based on comments on the Yale parents’ FB page, some are attempting to secure off-campus housing–even some Jrs and Srs who had planned to live on campus–and First Years and sophomores who will be invited on campus opposite semesters. Some parents have already commented about the risk of committing to a 12 month lease with the uncertain COVID-related future.
Cornell acknowledged that since most students sign their leases eleven months in advance that they are better off just inviting ‘everyone’ back to campus so that they have some control over the 60% (or more) of students who ordinarily live off campus, and will show up in Ithaca anyway.
In case you guys missed this from an earlier post. Princeton is only bringing back to campus Freshman and Juniors in the fall and Sophomore’s and Seniors in spring. 50% will be living off-campus each semester.
I think you are suggesting that say sophomore’s will be leasing AirBnB’s for just a semester and then they would come back to campus the next semester? Is this even affordable, it can’t be cheap to rent a 3 bedroom house for say 4 months in Princeton (NJ)?
I still stand by my statement that very few sophomores, for example, will want to come live in a single on campus, in a dorm with major restrictions after having lived with two other friend’s in a house on their own with a kitchen, family room, backyard and probably their own separate bedroom with no restriction. You see sophomores coming back to campus? I can’t…
Social Contract at Princeton (and I’m sure every college will make students sign these) and removal from campus if you don’t abide:
"Princeton officials said every undergraduate student who plans to return to campus must sign a social contract that articulates their commitment to following health and safety protocols and to observing behavioral expectations designed to promote the well-being of everyone in the university community. By signing the social contract, each student affirms that they understand these constraints and accepts the responsibility to abide by them.
The social contract includes sections addressing required preparation before arriving on campus and required behavior while on campus. Students may be removed from campus housing if their conduct runs counter to the health and safety rules established by the university in response to the pandemic."
@socaldad2002 – I do not disagree with you, but I think the clincher may be that if those students do not return to campus for their appointed semester, they will be considered ‘not in residence’ or whatever language each school will use. As such, they will not have access to whatever limited offerings are available on campus. Now, those offerings may be so limited as to hold no appeal, in which case the students can just carry on attending remotely for the second term as if they were in their parents’ houses.
Everyone seems VERY interested in living on campus for as much time as possible, but I agree with you that many are not thinking through the reality of life on campus during COVID.
One discussion on the Yale parents’ FB page is about student health coverage during the ‘not in residence’ term. More questions than answers at this time.
More info from BC today during parent orientation.
Testing on arrival with 24 hour turnaround time using outside lab. After that, weekly testing of about 1,250 random BC community members will take place In BC lab. Health center will be giving 30 min rapid response tests.
no change to school calendar and students are free to travel during Thanksgiving break.
Students are free to leave campus, but are encouraged to limit trips to Boston.
20% of classes will be fully on-line. Classrooms will be at 50% capacity. no large lectures - those classes will either be redesigned completely, or will be taught on-line.
Some classes will rotate kids - 1/2 live and 1/2 remote one day and then they will switch for the next class.
Masks at all times except dorm room and eating. Dorm room guests limited to BC students and gatherings limited to numbers determined by state. (So club meetings will fall under this category)
Gym open, intramural sports will be played. no decision yet on varsity or club sports.
Basically, if MA says It is ok, then BC says it is ok. I think it is going to be a mess, but deadline to take a gap year has come and gone.
Both of my kids will be at schools surrounded by other schools (ME and Boston) who all have drastically different plans. This is going to be a stressful fall for sure.
@socaldad2002 I think most Princeton students not on campus this semester will study from home. It’s a luxury to go find a house and rent it with some friends for four months. I still think some people aren’t understanding residential colleges where virtually all kids live in dorms. Kids do not rent apartments. It’s never the plan. Only now that we have Covid and schools are saying class is remote but we have no space for you on campus, are some students hoping to still leave home and find a place to stay with friends. It’s a huge hassle. I can’t even tell you. It’s last minute and getting a bunch of students and their families to organize to find a place and pull the trigger is not easy. Most kids are going to just choose to either defer or take class from home.
And, yes, the Bowdoin kids we know will go right back to campus if allowed in the spring. Dorms are super nice and the food is incredible. These kids all chose a school where they knew they would be in housing for four years. It makes the community. Plus, if more of the buildings are open on campus or if sports are happening, S19 and his friends will need to be living on campus in the spring in order to take advantage of all of that.
@CTCape - I hope you get your results soon. I am wondering if the delay could be caused by the Cape not ready for all of the people who arrived last week. I have bee here since mid June and the amount of people here has increased exponentially since last Saturday. I hope Boston is in better shape - how will all these college kids get tested? BC says 20K tests will be done when students arrive. I guess schools have their lab capacity secured already?
True. But, if S19 or his friends get sick, they can call their professors, request a Zoom meeting and talk to them to work out a plan. Like I said, S19 had one on one talks with some of his profs last spring. I heard some of them. The profs were interested in talking to him. One of them spent almost an hour on a Zoom call with him. I’m not worried about the communication with the profs.
ICE says no international student can stay in the US, or come to the US, if their college is entirely online. If an international student is here and attempts to take all their classes online, ICE can deport them.
If I were in charge of a college I would immediately set up a half-credit in-person class everywhere in the US that one of my international students resided.
There’s hardly any off-campus housing in the Princeton area. Students who aren’t on campus for a particular semester will almost certainly be living at home. And I’m pretty sure that sophomores and seniors would much rather come back to campus for the spring semester, even with restrictions, than spend another semester living with mom and dad.
What an odd decision on the ICE statement. What’s the point? Especially since many colleges rely on the full tuition payments from international students.
@xyz123a Thanks. My mom has been here since May and said the same thing. I’m hoping it’s a combo of increased summer population and the long holiday weekend? Otherwise a week does seem like a long time to wait for results given the urgency. It also doesn’t line up with what’s being reported in MA in terms of being able to get a test and get results in 24-48 hours.
I’m a teacher, so I’m able to be home— not out at the beach or anything. But 19 year old me if I felt fine and it was my only week off for the summer and I’d saved up for my vacation, etc., etc…? I’m a rule follower so I’d like to think I’d stay in, but I don’t know. How many like me out there this weekend decided they’d waited long enough and went to the beach? Meanwhile my kids are lifeguards here, and not super impressed with the amount of SD/masking they are seeing from beachgoers.
It’s just made me think about what it would be like for a young adult on campus this fall who may be asked to wait in isolation in their room alone for results, yet feel totally fine. It’s not going to be easy for them, so I hope they can get results more quickly so that schools can get student buy-in and everyone can make timely decisions.
If the Mass government and dept of health and BPH says it’s ok and leads BC to follow that guidance. Why wouldn’t they? It’s not like they have access to a broader spectrum of data. It is pretty smart to follow the science and guidelines. imho.
It’s not like Mass is a hot bed of antigovernment sentiment or against masks or restrictions. The exact opposite. Those days ended in the late 18th century. I know. I’m a native.
Plus the the extra restrictions on campus seem like a good measure.
I think all of the schools are making good decisions for themselves. It in no way removes your ability to make different ones. Dissection of every detail only creates anxiety and will not change anything.
Lots of smart docs, scientists and hospitals in greater Boston and the best nursing school is actually at BC imho. They are informed.
I’m sure it won’t be ideal but we will see how it pans out.
Varsity football is practicing. All students were tested. They are allowed 90 minutes a day to do things off campus as needed.
One returning player tested positive and was isolated. He’s fine. No one else is positive. Testing again.
I thought a Harvard is doing all of their classes online this upcoming fall. Are the having some of their students come back on campus but not hold live classes in their buildings? So these come back to take these courses on line?