So it’s on campus or online. The problem for some schools, though, is the possible drastic number of current students who will take a semester off if class is online. U Chicago and Northwestern parents are already in the news saying their kids will take time off. Lots of kids at LACs are saying they will do this as well. I’m guessing this will hit T20 schools the hardest where upwards of 50% of parents are full pay. If those schools’ hands are tied and campus just cannot open, what does that mean for them? I think that’s why some schools are considering putting off the start until Oct or even January because at least it buys some time to see if things get better.
Melvin 123 3- you can’t just send sick kids home. The parents are in a much higher risk group. You have to have arrangements in place for kids to be treated there.
Today at 7:16 am
I hear you but I have a high school senior next year. If (and probably when) he gets this, they will send him home. I have resigned myself to the fact that in my situation I will probably get this from my kids. Sick kids are sent home.
@homerdog At least most T20 schools have solid endowments even though weathering this storm will be difficult for all schools. LACs are in a much risker position. Sadly, I anticipate not every school survives this.
Bill Marsh people died of influenza A & B complications too.
The survival rate of Covid19 is over 98% and we are learning more and more each day the many handle this virus without incident. This indeed is good news.
The progress being made on all fronts will help us move forward or those who want can shelter in place.
My daughter thought it was humorous when a professor apologized to the students for everything and said, “I feel so bad for you all. You’ve had to go through 9/11, the Great Recession, and now this!” D said, “9/11? I was three when that happened. We don’t remember any of that. And we were just little kids during the recession, too. What are they talking about?”
Colleges aren’t going to take responsibility for sick students. They don’t now. If a student has the flu for 4 days or the measles, they might be patched up at the student health center but that’s about it. They aren’t going to set up quarantine areas that are mini hospitals. Sometimes the illness lasts 14-21 days. No school is going to provide a bed, food, nursing, house cleaning, tutoring, etc for an unknown number of students for an unknown number of days.
Especially given that college age students are at close to zero risk of morbidity. This illness affects their parents and teachers, but isn’t life threatening to them.
A college that is generally in-person may find it advantageous if all lectures and discussions were online capable (both live and recorded), so that students who are sick that day (of anything, not just COVID-19) can participate remotely, or at least view the recording if they were very sick or in medical treatment during the live session. An instructor who gets sick may still be able to give the lecture or discussion remotely.
Herd immunity is the answer, it is working well for Sweden. Let’s get these adults (not kids) back to college and get our economy working again.
@NJCity Sweden has more Covid19 deaths per million than the US does (175 vs 129). I think what Sweden is doing will have very little impact on how colleges open (or do not open) campuses in the fall.
@twoinanddone I don’t think the quarantine rooms would be mini-hospitals. I think they would just be normal rooms that the college puts infected students in (and tell them they can’t leave; they will probably make everyone sign something saying they agree to stay if quarantined) until they are no longer sick. If they needed further medical attention, they would have a phone number that they would call and would be taken to the hospital. Many colleges have a system already for taking sick students to hospitals if they don’t have friends that can drive them.
And who would be looking in on these students just staying in a room? Feeding them, cleaning and sanitizing their rooms? And who would be paying for it?
My understanding is that a person can be only slightly ill or not showing signs at all, and then suddenly be in respiratory distress and needing to be intubated immediately. I don’t think schools want the responsibility for deciding who needs medical attention and who just needs chicken soup (delivered to them).
I was just reading a NYT article about NY emergency rooms. They are finding a lot of people who come in for other issues (one patient was there for a stabbing) who have very low oxygen levels, like 50%, and have covid pneumonia.
Herd immunity requires around 70% of the populace to have antibody protection. That’s around 230M people in the US…we aren’t even close to that, even if the recent Santa Clara and LA infection rate studies are accurate.
Very, very few people under 25 have needed intubation. If that is a serious concern for you, it would be best to remain with your student at all times for the forseeable future.
Homerdog- I hear you on the nervous energy fueling creative scenarios! (Been racking my brain also).
Lots of smart people here; maybe the colleges are reading. 
We are resigned to going with the flow of whatever daughter’s school (when she decides!) goes with, I think. It’s overwhelming and there are so many, many variables and unknowns.
I would complain at this. Where would the professor be teaching from? How is it any better than having everyone in their own bunkers?
About the only thing we know for certain is that we cannot predict what schools will do in the fall. Almost certainly, things will look differently in 3 months than they look today — better? worse? we don’t know. We can discuss and debate various options, but your guess is as good as mine.
The colleges all have people thinking about options 24/7 as well. Tulane had a Webinar last night and had 9 staff members on Zoom who work in different areas, taking questions from parents. Most of the questions were about fall plans. They are coming up with the best options they can. The situation is fluid but obviously everyone’s first choice is on-campus classes. No one knows yet but one of the panelists said he felt fortunate that as compared to other businesses, colleges are already thinking farther out about the fall. Other businesses will likely reopen sooner and we can see how that turns out. It made me feel better. We as parents do not have to solve this. We are all thinking about next steps and fall and it is stressful, but in the end we will be given options from which to choose.
I didn’t see it posted yet. Cal State Fullerton announces fall semester will begin online. https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/21/839623300/cal-state-fullerton-announces-plans-for-a-virtual-fall-will-other-colleges-follo?
Pulling quotes of topics that have been discussed here.