I could look at places like ASU for S19 but I don’t get the impression that Bowdoin accepts any old class. They say no preprofessional classes at all. No business, marketing, etc. We can avoid that easy enough since it’s not in his wheelhouse but there is a pre-approval process to go through to make sure the credit will be accepted. No community college credit will be allowed for S. They are just now making an exception and saying that, if a student’s study abroad for spring was cancelled and they can’t finish class, then those kids can take community college class to make up that credit. But that’s only for those kids.
If kids take their online classes elsewhere in order to reduce the number of classes they would have to take at their own colleges, would that exacerbate the financial problem at their own colleges and accelerate their decline?
Oh God, please no. This work from home thing is not working well for my family at all. I’m actually in the office today and yesterday because I had to start getting something done.
Dave Berry has posted the results, as reported in Inside Higher Ed, of a recent survey of College Presidents regarding the situation. I suggest all read the survey. As expected, most colleges expect layoffs, and almost no one intends to reduce tuition.
Yes, the winners would be the ones who can increase their enrollment through distance education. The losers would be the ones whose students substitute the winners’ course work for their own, allowing the students to pay fewer semesters’ of tuition at the losers before graduation. Some (such as Bowdoin mentioned a few posts before) already try to avoid that by limiting transfer credit (e.g. not accepting transfer credit from lower cost community colleges, limiting AP credit). Perhaps private colleges, especially those that are not at the top of the heap in desirability factors other than the experience, may get more strict accepting transfer credit to avoid substitution of lower cost distance courses for their own.
@ampayne I feel bad for you. I’m graduating college this year so it sucks I’m ending college online but it would suck more for everyone that might have to deal with this fall term. Good luck, I hope you make it to Michigan State. It would be a great experience.
I’m becoming more at peace with the idea of Fall classes being online. My initial thought process was to hold off and take a gap year, but I’m not sure that for one the request would be accepted and for another that it would be a good choice for DS who would most likely not use his time wisely.
With no room and board charges and I’m assuming a lot of fees would be waived or reduced, Fall semester would be a lot cheaper. The one thing I’m wondering (worrying) about a bit is what would happen to financial aid? We get significant federal and state grant money and I’m assuming that would be prorated as well which might actually make staying at home more costly.
I think most top schools allow limited transfer and AP credit. If they graduate someone with their name on the diploma, they want it to mean something and it’s watered down if kids take class elsewhere. I totally understand that. Just trying to think of all possible options for us. I do not expect Bowdoin or other schools to relax their policies but one is allowed to use them within the rules and S19 can use up to four credits somewhere else…the caveat is that they have to be approved. There are rules on their website that are limiting and it goes beyond that because the college has to also approve the exact class. Like I think I said above, I have no idea how choosy they are when it comes to approved classes.
I do not want to do anything to hurt Bowdoin but I just want to know all options.
Not sure I would base much on a sample size of 142, and a study with many subjective measures…For example, what does ‘some’ or ‘significant’ mean in certain questions?
With that said, 12.7% of private school presidents did forecast a decrease in tuition next year. (Slide 16)
Of course all these issues bear watching, and I expect most schools have formed committees to conduct research among keg groups, and brainstorm potential solutions. There won’t be a one size fits all answer to all the issues…what one college chooses for the fall won’t necessarily be the same for another. Interesting times.
deleted. 
We are all in different boats depending on where our kids are at school. I wish I could get a grasp on how much Bowdoin (and other top LACs with large endowments) would really lose if they charged half tuition for just one semester and then how that would affect the students long term. I expect all colleges are trying to plan out different scenarios. I’m just impatient and I wish I had a glimpse into the process!
Nearly 10% of college presidents surveyed said they would have to increase tuition. In the survey, smaller private school expect the hardest impact
@roycroftmom Small privates that increase tuition are likely those already on the brink of being financially solvent.
Many (most?) state universities don’t charge OOS tuition over the summer, only for regular school year semesters. They may however charge a (more modest) premium for students who are attending a different university. See for example the different fees for UC Berkeley here: http://summer.berkeley.edu/application/fees
I read elsewhere that Smith will be doing its fall semester online.
Some of them do accept sophomore and junior level transfer students, allowing the credit earned at the prior college to count toward the degree, even if they may not allow frosh who took college courses at those same other colleges to count them toward the degree. Probably means that their business models assume that frosh will be staying a full 8 tuition-paying semesters and do not want them to graduate early.
In contrast, state universities are often generous with transfer or AP credit (at least for credit units, but sometimes less so for subject credit), since their in-state students are subsidized, so they want the students to graduate as early as possible so that each individual student consumes less subsidy (so that a given amount of subsidy can serve more students).
Never mind. They now say it was a rumor.
Why bother?
Because the college kids miss their friends, and would rather hang out with them than their boring parents and siblings.
Because you have already signed an off-campus apartment/house lease, so you might as well let them live there.
Because your college kid has an opportunity to work/intern/volunteer/etc. at their college town, but not back home.
@TwoHighSchoolers none of that really applies here. Sure, S19 wants to be back on campus with his friends but he’s in a dorm next year and I doubt his volunteering gig will be continuing since it’s with a local grade school. I understand the concept for kids in a different situation. The way I see it is - if kids can’t safely be in class together then they also cannot safely be in dorms or cafeterias either. It’s the gathering of people that may be the issue, no matter their age. Not all students are safe from the virus turning into a hospital visit and not all professors will be in intensive care if they are infected. It’s not as simple as send them kids back but don’t have them go into classrooms.
Adding to say I think it’s almost impossible for us to agree because a large university where most kids live off campus is just a completely different experience than a LAC where all kids live in campus housing. Also, kids who chose a small school and parents who are paying for it have different views of what they are investing in and it’s just more of a shock to go from the liberal arts school experience to online school than it might be for some kids at a really large university where most of their classes are larger lectures.