Does your D know when LMU will decide about kids on campus for spring?
Online / distance learning students should make sure nothing that is or looks like a school rules violation is visible to their cameras.
https://www.nola.com/news/education/article_06e7ff0a-fdd2-11ea-a060-0f7b484dca71.html
Further proof of the insanity gripping our nation:
"The case is the latest involving weapons and virtual learning during the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this month, a Colorado school system suspended a 12-year old boy for five days after he picked up a neon-green toy gun during a virtual class. A similar incident occurred in New Jersey with a sixth grader, according to local news media reports."
Nah, just educators (an industry in which common sense is optional).
My son also doesn’t have any friends that didn’t go to college regardless what year. They all will be back in the spring. Kids in my area with just about every type of college are at their schools.
S19 has a good number of friends who aren’t taking classes this fall. There is a clear commonality between all of these students - full pay at elite schools. Not just Bowdoin but Georgetown, Cornell, Duke and Harvard represented as schools of his friends’ who took a break.
Duke and Georgetown were both in localities with sharply rising infection rates and/or vulnerable populations. Bowdoin and Harvard decided very early on that they had more to lose by opening fully than they did by sharply cutting back on enrollment.
All of the kids I know (regardless of year in school) went back to their campuses/campus areas. That includes several full pays at elite schools. Like so many things, views are very different for different people.
Maybe our experience is skewed because these are all sophomores I’m talking about. Most haven’t even decided on major yet so don’t feel like they can just plow through courses they need for their major and stay on track. They are still experimenting and feel like they need the on campus experience to make that decision. Plus, all found things to do this semester to make money and/or help them narrow down their interests.
My D20 is the only one of her group of close friends taking a gap year. All of them are attending college this year and that includes Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Rice, Tulane, Stanford, UCLA, UC Berkeley and USC which really surprised me that not more kids are taking gap years.
I do think that the kids who are taking gap years have considerable family money. D has befriended some at Duke gap students who went to Paris for the year to write a screen plays, for example. On the Duke gap year FB page, many are Jewish families who’s kids are doing the Aardvark Israel program.
In summary, family finances and the cost of college are key components whether a student can pull off a gap year.
Family finances are part of it. But so too is the idea of moving forward. I know a few kids/families who talked about gap years but none of them actually took one (and each of the families had more than enough resources to pay for gap year experiences). And I am confident that families who haven’t left their houses since March are more likely to have kids take gap years than families who have led more normal lives in 2020. Its just all part of a very odd “we seem to live on different planets” situation right now.
@TheGFG “D needs this paper for a writing sample for grad school–just when some universities are suspending graduate admissions in the humanities, making admissions more competitive elsewhere.”
I know this is a week old post, but I hope that things start turning around for your D, maybe the grad schools will know the restrictions and limitations undergrads are facing these days and take that into consideration. Good luck!
It isn’t only a choice between the college dorm/ Greek House or the childhood bedroom. 18 year old students could rent a place anywhere with either established fiends or new unknown flat mates. Most people aside from those in the minority of colleges that offer 4 year housings do that after freshman year anyway. Some of my fondest memories where from living with my best friends in a lovely detached house for 2 years. That set up is probably safer from a “ bubble” point of view than a massive sprawling tower block dorm.
Yes. But you got to go to class. At most schools now, class is remote. That’s the issue.
And kids now have to stick with their current friends. Can’t go our and meet new people. It’s just less of an experience.
That’s even more reason not to move to the college town. Why not go to Hawaii or near a wonderful national park with lots of hiking trails? Spend a few hours a day studying then have Covid safe outdoor fun.
I would estimate 25% of my child’s high school cohort (class of 2020) is living at home with their parents, taking freshmen college classes on-line. I would think it’s easier and makes more sense for upperclassmen to find off-campus apartments with friends, than for freshmen.
My son is a sophomore in college and we don’t know any college students doing gap years. All his friends have either returned to their college town (combination of on and off campus) or are doing remote at home because they had planned to live in the dorms and dorms are closed.
The schools that @homerdog listed when describing students that were taking gap years might be one of the differences in peoples experiences. If you are going to a highly selective school maybe you have more options for internships etc, than the average college student. Most of my son’s friends were unemployed over the summer so more time of sitting around doing nothing didn’t seem that appealing. My son doesn’t have friends that are going to "Georgetown, Cornell, Duke and Harvard ". They are largely going to state schools and to LACs well below the level frequently discussed here on CC.
Believe it or not, there are families that are “ok” with their student staying at home and saving that expensive room and board cost while their kid attends college this year and can’t just blow 15k doing remote instruction from Hawaiian islands.
@socaldad2002 i think it’s probably true that many kids taking gap years had the option of doing something else that costs a lot of money. S19 and his friends aren’t in that camp. S19 is making $6000 this semester for his internship and his friends here are all working as math and/or science high school tutors and are booked solid with families paying them $50-$60 an hour! No one hanging out in Paris. 
Yes but I never said otherwise, just offered an option other than dorm or parents house.