Colleges lost so much money in the spring that some are talking about changing their need policies for admissions. If enrollment is down this year it will affect budgets several years out (creating deficits in the millions of dollars). The idea that laying off a few low income staff people and canceling some student events will balance the budgets and leave room to pay for millions of dollars of testing and PPE expenses is misguided at best.
Even more than the spending on testing and other resources is the spirit of volunteerism on many NESCAC campuses, faculty, staff and alums have really stepped up to make the students return as smooth as possible. Good example of community effort to make a difficult situation better. Williamstown even has a mask wearing campaign where the town and college worked together to create really colorful rubber painted sidewalk banners with interesting quotes to encourage mask wearing.
Ohio State just approved a budget. Relevant points with respect to this discussion:
S19 is reasonably happy. Loves, loves, loves his apartment and shopping and cooking with roommates. After his brief lapse at a party and subsequent quarantine, he just sticks with roomies. Feels quite safe in F2F class sections - very spaced out and masks required. Connects with profs. Online classes are well done.
Two biggest issues: He has been very anxious at the possibility of his on-campus apartment being shut down (not happening for now), and he misses the camaraderie of his finance clubs. The clubs are still happening, just online.
I was actually more concerned the past several months when he was home. We were being very cautious, his old high school friends were definitely not (lots of parties and socializing), so he was virus-free but very isolated and depressed. Now he has a small pod to be with.
My D was struggling for awhile when she got back on campus. They are taking thing very seriously there and the changes were hard on her. But now that classes have been back in session for about 10 days and she’s busier she’s been sounding better. She has some plans the next few days including some sort of outside craft event where they make their own mask, a scavenger hunt outside and a movie they are showing outside. It sounds like there are some plans in place for some fun, creative events later in the semester…we’ll see.
It’s certainly a different experience, and she would much prefer things go back to how they were, but I think what she really wants is for “everyone” to just be all together again. Her school has a residential college set up and she loved having groups hanging together in the commons areas, big groups at meals, groups in the movie room, etc. Until that can return she won’t be 100% happy. But, I see some positives coming out of this too in that I think she is developing some really close relationships with those she is spending a lot of time with.
Yesterday Bryn Mawr decided to flip to remote learning for at least the first two weeks of classes because of some non-compliance on campus. That means that had my daughter not chosen remote, all of her classes would now be via zoom anyway. It started out (at registration a month ago) that she had three in person and has shifted down from there to none.
My D is happy too. Loves her profs, sees her pod regularly, and is actively involved with her usual clubs and projects. Her only complaint has been about food wait times which are getting better. Next up is gearing up for the zoom career fair.
Temple University has announced going completely remote for the fall.
@leigh22 https://www.abc27.com/back-to-school/temple-university-announces-suspension-of-all-in-person-classes-for-fall-semester/
How much co-ordination is there between college and the local community in terms of enforcing masks/social distancing and testing ?
If there are outbreaks in off campus housing then it would seem rational to me that all multi occupancy buildings in the area would also have them. I know single 30 and 40 somethings who live with flat mates and have active social lives.
It doesn’t say if residential students are being sent home, but it does say that professors are not being sent home - yet.
That is why we are announcing that the current suspension of all but essential in-person teaching on Temple University’s domestic campuses will continue for the remainder of the fall semester. Essentials-only courses are those for which educational objectives cannot be achieved without all or some in-person instruction. We estimate that 95% of courses will be online for the remainder of the semester. Employees currently working on campus should continue to do so until notified otherwise by your supervisor.
And this is the other reason why it is so important for so many colleges that opened campuses, to hold the students accountable and to enforce the policies. Not only for the health and safety of students and employees but also for the fiscal well being of the college. another campus shutdown and going remote will be another hit to their budgets when they are already having to spend so much more and took a hit last school year. Paying out millions extra while bringing in millions less is not sustainable.
@msdynamite85 Purdue and their town have been partnering since Early August to have the same rules on and off campus. They even got the mayor to put more restrictions on bars. IMO that kind of cooperation is necessary.
Nine days into the semester, San Diego State classes have gone 100 percent remote for the next four weeks, due to rising case numbers. The university, which has 35,485 enrolled students, brought back about 8,000 for in-person classes, mostly science labs. Of those, about 2,600 are living in on-campus housing. The dorms remain open for now.
For context, San Diego County has an average daily case rate of 5.8 per 100K population and test positivity of 4 percent. That’s among the best in California right now (excluding the very rural counties) and is good enough for K-12 to reopen for in person instruction and for businesses, as of Monday, to restart or increase indoor operations. But those gains will be in jeopardy if SDSU cases push the county to 7 or more cases per 100K. Too soon to tell.
My older D lives and works in Philly in Center City. Philly struggled to bring its Covid numbers down. Indoor restaurant dining and theaters are permitted to resume on Friday. But now the outbreak at Temple University is threatening that. https://www.phillyvoice.com/philly-covid-19-temple-university-outbreak-coronavirus-off-campus-housing/
Its a good scam. Keep kids on campus to maintain the R/B revenue but make them go online for “most courses”. Keeps the profs happy since they can go remote. Doesn’t change a single thing in regards to residential life spread possibilities.
In the spirit of this thread, I have tried to asses the risk of returning to school compared to staying home. There seems to be two overall thoughts among commenters; those who feel school cannot be conducted safely and those who feel it can be done safely. My DSs are at Notre Dame and Arizona State. Here are the numbers as I have either calculated or pulled from school/county/state websites:
ASU - 1.98% positive test rate as of 8/13 (803 positives/40402 tests)
Notre Dame - 2.2% 7-day positivity rate
Stanislaus County - 17% 7-day positivity rate (my calculation from county testing info; 1016 7- day positives/5959 tests)
I do not have county data specific to the college demographics, so I realize it is not an apple to apple comparison. It does provide insight into risk level.
For St Joseph County, where Notre Dame is located, they have a 7.0% positivity rate. That is 10% lower than my home county.
For Maricopa County, where ASU is located, they have a 12.6% positivity rate. That is 4.4% lower than our county.
Based on these data, I am perfectly happy to have my DSs at schools where the risk on contracting the virus is lower than our home county. I have not increased their risk by sending them to school in Arizona and Indiana.
Wouldn’t the relative risk be changeable based on their situation at home vs school? For instance, at home my daughter has her own room, own bathroom, and doesn’t do anything besides hang out with family. We have grocery delivery and lots of outdoor space. My kids are very much safer here than at school regardless of the positivity rates because at school they’d be sharing bathrooms and dining facilities and going to class, etc. That’s not to mention the added risks of traveling to and from school.
Just putting this out there, not ALL of the faculty is keen to go remote. We had the choice before the semester started. I have an in-person lecture and in-person labs and one remote lecture because there isn’t space to fit the class in. I’m praying we can survive the semester in this state, difficult that it is.
Anyone who thinks lecturing in a face mask is easy probably hasn’t tried it, btw.
Depends if the student is staying at home, like you describe. This summer my two kids were out and about regularly with the kids in their bubble, and S21 was playing baseball. In these cases, I would say risk is more akin to the level of community spread in that area, which could be lower or higher depending on their school. D19 is in a lower risk area for school in Maine, than in Illinois.