Thx @socaldad2002 - I am not all that optimistic that these schools will be generous with their refund policies. I am looking for tuition insurance but neither school offers it - and what I see online is that GradGuard is the only one that appears to provide coverage for COVID-19.
I will keep looking - though I must tell you that I also agree that young healthy students should be able to overcome the Coronavirus…let’s hope that continues to be the case.
Campus closed, fully online, living at home, tens of thousands of dollars, and a Class of 2020 high school graduate who has lost all of her senior year still wants to do this. As a parent I don’t feel it’s worth it, but when you have a senior who already has been disappointed in so many ways, there is significant pressure to allow DD to do this. Is this another important item “taken away” from DD? If DD wanted to take a gap year, I’d be fine with that. She doesn’t. She prefers online at home to other options. I’m the parent balking at paying for the “Yugo” by paying for the Mercedes. It’s a difficult position to be in.
For my incoming college freshman, I’m taking the long view. She is emotionally committed to her college, and if this year is not optimal, I’m hoping that treatments and vaccines can make future years better.
I’m a teacher, and I think it sounds entirely reasonable to go back under those circumstances. My area is in good shape as well, and we are having 50% of our elementary kids in the school at one time. I do feel nervous, not gonna lie, but I do feel that we have a good chance of being okay.
If the students are unmasked, no way would I go back. Sounds like the surrounding districts have it right. I hope the union wins this one.
@twogirls if no lunch does that mean shorter days? That what we ended up with here. Only 35 min per class instead of 50 and only in class two times a week with remote days asynchronous. And Wed off. That means 140 min of instruction and only 70 of it live instead of the 259 hours in normal life. I don’t get how kids are going to get through the curriculum.
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Fully remote Illinois school districts should mandate teachers teach from their empty classrooms…they have better tech there and access to their materials, lab supplies, etc. Schools can provide daycare in the empty schools if they choose to do that, they can work out if the teachers have to pay for that, or not. We have had plenty of time to plan for this situation (unlike in the spring), which could be with us for 1+ years.
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(Sorry, the quote function got messed up)
In a neighboring district, grades 3-6 will be in school 2 days, and remotes 3. There are teachers assigned to work from their classrooms to be available for zoom help and perhaps doing some teaching. They are still working out the details.
Is there any national database for “best ideas” on how to safely reopen schools (K-12 and colleges)? If not, there should be. Many of us share ideas on here, and I’ve seen some good ones. It would be very useful for schools to have access to the best ideas that are being proposed by the brightest minds in education. It would mean temporarily (for colleges) suspending the usual competitor approach during this crisis, but it would be for a very worthwhile reason: the common good for all students.
Right now we have 4 people from the state’s union in our school every day fighting for a safe plan, as well as union attorneys. Let’s hope it works out…as teachers will not go back without masks.
Parents want a full day, with lunch, no masks. It’s crazy…given masks must be worn everywhere and indoor dining isn’t open (or open at 25% capacity…forgot).
Parents will not get what they are demanding.
That’s nuts, what parents are asking!
Back to my situation
Son wants to go back to RIT even if classes are online He has a 4 bedroom 2 bath university owned apartment. Living with 3 other students is optimal for him. I think they are all showing up. The big issue is the 14 day quarantine. Before I put “plan NJ” into play waiting to hear what the school offers.
@sdl0625 I am curious to know if your son already committed to going back to RIT. My son is a transfer student this fall and we found out two Mondays ago after a couple follow ups from housing that there is a no-guarantee housing for transfer students. Now we are scrambling to find off campus housing for him and is also worried about private owners not having a clear plan as to what they would do if there is a PUI or Covid19 positive case within a single housing with multiple rooms.
Update for GKUniversity:
The VP of Student Affairs put out a statement about testing that aligned with my thoughts on the logistics.
Similar to most European universities. Students live at their parents, in shared apartments or in residences administered by non profits, as regular renters. No one can stop them from living there, and they will be constrained by local or national rules, and the universities only determine which classes to hold in person and which are remote.
I read that German universities are very pleased that with the switch to remote, attendance in many classes has actually gone UP, lol!
Such a great quote - something I agree with
For my incoming college freshman, I’m taking the long view. She is emotionally committed to her college, and if this year is not optimal, I’m hoping that treatments and vaccines can make future years better.
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This coronavirus pandemic and school re-opening plans is really putting me on the edge. I am trying my very best to educate myself and read as many reliable articles out there to make informed decisions for my kids. I have two college bound kids, one at Colgate and the other at RIT. Both kids have asthma and food allergies (as if there’s not enough to worry about). Son is also is hearing-impaired but does not qualify for NTID. D from Colgate has secured housing. Son at RIT has to find off campus housing. Monroe county has 32 positive cases as of 7/25 with about 2.3% positivity result. Madison county on the other hand has 0 positive case from the same day but with 2.5% positivity result. Because Colgate has a much clearer and more transparent plan and also is coordinating with the village of Hamilton, I am a little bit less worried about D. RIT on the other hand, I am still navigating their RIT Ready plan but there’s just so many variables and uncertainty with dealing with private housing and their respective plans for quarantine and isolation. My son is really looking forward to his transfer to RIT. But as a parent and a clinical lab technologists, there’s more to just moving your kids to campus during this trying times. I need facts. I need plans. I need evidence. Of course nothing is 100% full-proof from the virus but our kids’ safety and well-being is at the top of my concern right now. We have a very hard decision to make next week.
D’s college seems to agree with the above. No prior testing before she comes to campus. In the morning before she moves into her dorm, all students are tested and immediately go to their dorm to move-in. Once in their dorm, they will be isolated for 48 hours awaiting test results. If test is negative, they can resume “normal” activities. If positive, they will be quarantined in a separate dorm building for 14 days with other CV-19 positive students. Once clear, they can go back to their home dorm room.
This might work fairly well because the vast majority of undergrads will be in singles, living on campus and will be tested regularly throughout the semester. We will know in a couple of weeks if this plan is doable?
So Galloway made a correction to the salary error but doesn’t look like he corrected his W&M error. Wonder which others are wrong? Anyway, being he is promoting his brand/blog, he will come out with the most eye catching analysis, with full blown opinion piece.
Just curious though, do any of these schools on his Perish and Struggle list have a leg to stand on to sue him for defamation or something?? Granted some of the the smaller or poorly run schools – doesn’t take much to see they are in precarious situation. But others like Mt Holyoke? They have a huge endowment per FT student and may beg to disagree that they will/should Perish. Or quite a few in the Struggle category. I get his choice of names for his quadrants (perish, struggle) falls right into his Marketing lingo – but its very harsh and could influence parents/prospective students from applying. (Of course, he may be doing all a favor and warning us of the disaster ahead with these schools).
Note: He may well be a prophet or like a broken clock, and be right! Time will tell. But it doesn’t help to have him using such negative language to categorize institutions. Of course, he has his disclaimers all over the place that this is just his humble opinion/analysis. Does that hold up in court?
OTOH, schools may just want keep this quiet and not make any fuss to draw more attention to it.
(Oh I see 1966parent started a new thread on this. Don’t know how to move over there!)
Sorry. Post I was answering was deleted.
Well, I think we may have a winner for the worst plan and a gold medal for lack of transparency. Duke!
@socaldad2002, get ready for an email tomorrow that tells you that the first years and sophs will have housing for first semester only, and that juniors/seniors will have priority for second semester. The school had already planned for major decrease in density, putting all first years in singles, renting hotels and apartment buildings, and it let all upper class out of their 3 year housing requirement. Students reapplied for housing mid-June and based on those application #'s, the school said housing would be available for all that applied. Knew there was a problem when it delayed the housing assignment announcement last week for all but first years. Admin blaming it on the the overall covid trends, but rumor has it a large # of football players tested positive last week, so I think that’s the driver for why they held housing. Seems to be a calculated decision that the school’s risk of loss from lawsuits resulting in a student infecting their roommate or another student with covid- while on campus- is greater than the loss associated with decreased housing revenue, deferred tuition, and the bad will that these students will feel for their school from being banned from campus except while in class. It’s also a calculated decision to dangle one semester of housing in front of those expecting a full year as a reason to not defer. Off campus students can now only come on campus for classes and no access to anything else.
Oh, and now they will announce they want students to quarantine for 14 days and get a test to bring to campus if possible before return (good luck with that…did I mention they are supposed to start moving into dorms two weeks from tomorrow?) while still testing them when they arrive.
None of this has been announced to parents/students officially yet. The provost email to staff has been leaked and it’s in the school newspaper but no announcement from the school.
Now all the the upper class members who expected to live on campus and haven’t already found housing are scrambling for whatever might be out there…Then again, this rumor was brewing and I spent the last few days trying to see what apartment options were out there…I can’t get a call back from any apartment management company, and had a few zoom apartment tours cancelled in the last two days due to ‘no further availability’. Do I risk my daughter trying to find an apartment in January? And who wants to sign a year lease then?
The class schedule comes out tomorrow so we’ll see what, if any classes, are in person. I actually hope all the classes D wants to take are online instead of in person so deferral can be an easier choice. I think my soph has to accept/deny housing that she has not even yet formally received by Friday. Oh, and did I mention she doesn’t even have her personal belongings? Duke contracted with companies to pack up dorm rooms because they weren’t allowed back on campus and was supposed to deliver her stuff to her room this semester. This is FUBAR.
Here’s an article about Duke – not a lot of detail.
Here is another Duke article with more info: https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2020/07/duke-university-email-fall-changes-housing-limited-first-years-sophomore-coronavirus