Wesleyan has over 150 college-owned detached houses that have been converted to student use. Their easy organization into pods were huge factors in its decision to fully re-open.
https://www.wesleyan.edu/reslife/ugrad_housing/woodframes.html
To your point…We didn’t force the decision, but had a balanced discussion around the cost, the reality that classes were all online, the likly dining experience, and most notably what life in quarantine might look like on campus. Home made the most sense.
I think a lot of these issues change based on the cohort. First-year students want to experience their new school. Sophomores it might make sense to hold off and take a gap year…why surrender the partying and curriculum exposure. Junior is tough…do you just keep going or wait it out? Senior is the easiest (IMO) when it comes to on/off campus and gap year. Welcome to adulthood a year early. School is your job. You have a full year after to find a job or decide next steps…same result as a Gap year but you finish with momentum versus gearing back up next fall.
Most of my college Sr son’s friends, both HS and college, are enrolled this term, but not all. HS friends mostly returned to their college city and rented houses nearby as none invited students back to campus for in-person instruction. A mix of Ivies, LACs, selective tech institutes, but one is taking remote classes from home, not interested in paying high rent to attend remotely.
Most of his college classmates pushed through to finish. Some returned to campus, some rented apartments in New Haven, a couple are continuing from their parents’ homes, but a handful have taken leaves. The ones on leave are continuing research, and hope to have a more ‘typical’ financial year on or near campus next fall. TBD…
I just read an article about this past Saturday’s SAT and the college board reported that only 10% of test centers were full. That surprised me. Wonder if that’s because kids didn’t feel safe going to test centers or if kids are just going test optional this year?
Well, on the flip side, our D went to take the SAT and they told the kids to check their email. The school sent an email the night before saying they can only take 100 of the 250 kids signed up so 150 kids got emails saying they do not have a seat and will be reassigned.
B
What should the city of Boulder do? Should they just let their numbers spike and shrug it off? They banned large gatherings and presumably have a mask ordinance. If 18-22 year olds are the spreaders, they need to be stopped. The ordinance can’t have a loophole for everyone, and I think that families can send one person to pick up the takeout if they want to support local restaurants.
It is a health order issued to the group which is spreading covid. If the 40 year olds were the spreaders, they would leave the kids alone.
They are allowed to go to work.
Boulder amended the ordinance to allow 18-22 to gather in groups up to 2. This was in response to safety concerns.
The difference is that in NY people responded in a responsible manner. NY was hit early and hard in the pandemic. Everyone saw the morgue trucks, if not in person, than on the local news. Boulder is a totally different story. There has been plenty of time for the anti maskers to spread their propaganda, and time for people to decide that because they were tired of it, they could ease up on precautions. If NY had a spike in the 18-22 year olds, you know they would be taking strong action.
@socaldad2002 – can’t help laugh at the Duke students taking a gap year in Paris and writing screenplays. Very on brand for Duke, but not the real world most mere mortals live in.
Good friend’s daughter’s ‘gap year’ is likely turning into ‘gap semester.’ She decided relatively late in the summer she wanted to do a gap year b/c she didn’t feel great/safe going to college.
BUT now she’s been working, living at home and regrets the decision. Feels like college, even if not normal, will be better than being stuck at home another 9 months.
She’s attending Miami (Ohio) which will let her start mid-year so at the moment she’s planning to just dive in. Figures since it was such a weird first semester for the first-years that it won’t be too hard to weave herself in come next semester.
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Apparently, order has now been amended to allow for the 18-22 year old to be seen/out with another human. Before it was amended, the 18-22 year old would NOT necessarily be able to go to work if he/she had to carpool. HO only talked about when the person was at work, not how he/she would be allowed to get there. Or maybe 18-22 year olds in Boulder all have their own cars. That’s not what its like in my part of the world (liberal, socio-economically, racially diverse city). Some commute together. Good for them in Boulder if everyone is fine with it! Let’s hope the case counts go down. University can see about what to do better for Spring.
I saw this coming when they tried to re-word the language on the Summary page. The vaunted FAQ answer has been nullified!
My D20 is taking her first semester as a freshman at home… not by choice, they did not open dorms. Her SLAC sent out an email last week saying that they are planning to open in January for spring semester, barring any crazy Covid news. She doesn’t care one bit what campus is like, she just wants to go!
At this point, I am becoming worried about the impact of a massive economic downturn or strike related to the election.
UConn seems to be doing well so far. The university president sent a note to the school community last week thanking everyone for following the rules and keeping the spread to an acceptably small level.
“ Since August, we have fluctuated around a 1% positivity rate among residential students, holding infection levels to near that of the state overall. Just as importantly, the spread to faculty, staff, and the town has been minimal. The success in limiting the spread among students differentiates us from most of our peers across the country, who either did not choose to offer in-person classes, or did offer them but experienced dramatic spikes of the virus.
While far from being in the clear in terms of remaining open through the Thanksgiving break, we can all be proud of what the UConn community has accomplished so far.”
https://dailycampus.com/2020/09/22/a-letter-from-the-president-to-the-uconn-community/
Fingers crossed they make it to Thanksgiving! I have been favorably impressed with their effort to date.
Duke continues to keep numbers low - 2 staff/faculty, 5 grad students (off campus) and 1 undergrad out of 14,141 tests. Daughter reports that she’s been averaging 3x a week for testing.
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My son’s test center was at capacity on Saturday. He hadn’t been in any room with more than five people since early March.
I hear you! My D’s gap year is a lot less glamorous. She is a server in a Mexican restaurant saving money to help pay some of her anticipated college costs and taking two online classes at a community college this semester.
Is Duke having any in-person classes? Is your D on campus? If Ao, are kids eating in the dining rooms or is it all to-go? Are the fitness centers open? The libraries? I’m really trying to get a grip on how these campuses look that are keeping cases so low with a lot of testing.
Took Ds20 up to UMass Amherst today to a) pick up his student ID, b) check out some off campus housing options if freshmen aren’t invited to campus for spring 2021, and c) give ds22 a campus tour. It’s only a little over an hour from us, and it was a gorgeous day. The lines outside the Mullens Ctr for. covid testing were decent sized. Since so few are living on campus, I’m assuming a good chunk were off campus students, which seems like a good sign.
The debrief on the way home was interesting. DS22 hadn’t been there previously, and he declared that he didn’t like it. I think he couldn’t see past the lack of human beings on campus, but either way I’m relieved, because it would be a potential reach for him. Ds20 found several apartment complexes he could be happy with, and has a friend from hs XC he will likely room with if dorms don’t open. I was thrilled.
Amherst was a ghost town. A few people out and about, all wearing masks, but so quiet. On the other hand, we drove home through Northampton, and it was surprisingly busy.
Sigh. Looking forward to when he can launch.