Will there even be College next year?

While admissions continues apace as though it’s business as usual, I’m asking if colleges will even open next year. If it’s another case of shutting down mid semester, I have to be asking myself, if I’m a college president. what’s the point?

I’m surprised that I haven’t seen any news reports of colleges opening in July in hopes of completing the semester by Halloween or so - if coronavirus abates in the warmer weather. What about 2nd semester? I see no chance of bringing kids back in January. Maybe an April-July “ spring” semester? If it doesn’t abate, there will be no college classes being held in the fall.

We are at least a year away from a vaccine being in production and available to the general public. Until then, life will continue to be disrupted. Think London during the blitz in WW II. College boards and administrators are very risk averse. It won’t take much to shut them down.

Has anyone given thought to having their kid defer admission for a year. What might be a better way to spend 2020-21?

My 2020 high school grad is taking a gap year, though it has been planned all year and has nothing to do with the virus. Our worry had been that there would be an influx of deferral requests and most would be denied. She accepted an offer and got hers approved early, just in case. That said, colleges can’t afford to just close up shop, and they can’t afford for huge numbers to defer either. They need tuition money to continue to flow in and many colleges will probably struggle if this continues to fall. My D19 would continue at her expensive LAC even if it’s online another semester or even year, but that is only because she has a full ride (between need based aid and an outside scholarship). If her school was forced to reduce aid to current students she would be forced to transfer to somewhere that would be totally covered by her outside scholarship (totally feasible). Her scholarship is funded on an endowment too though, so of course there is always the worry that the downturn in the markets could put the scholarship foundation in jeopardy as well. Crazy, uncertain times, man.

I think a gap year makes sense for a lot of kids right now. Interestingly, it’s not only common in Europe, but expected.

I would have second thoughts about sending my kid to a college that’s beyond driving distance. How does s/he get home if s/he gets sick? THe college won’t let him/her stay in the dorm and an airline won’t let him/her on a plane if infected.

Decisions about this year we’re emergency actions about something we didn’t know was coming. But we know that next year will be disrupted, so why even start?

I am thinking about this, too, but if the backup plan is hide in the house, even though it would be very sad to not get the full college experience, I’d rather he be doing distance learning while in the house that year and getting a year of college completed rather than doing not much more than he is now.

Thanks for your thoughts since you’re in the situation right now. Much appreciated.

We’ve been discussing the same thing seeing we live in a hot spot area and our son is a sophomore at a school in what’s considered to be a hot spot area (though outside of the big one). He was so bummed that a class was canceled today because that’s his one interaction with his profs. On the flip side, so grateful for Zoom…he “meets” with friends nightly.

His classes (semester) were canceled while the kids were on Spring Break so literally he has the bag he brought on a college class trip to the midwest and that’s it. They can’t get back to the dorms to clear their stuff out. I’m sure that’s not going to happen until at least late May at this point.

Anyway…yes, we are concerned about the fall, we’re concerned about a potential opportunity on campus this summer, and we’re equally concerned about him studying abroad next Spring. We’ve been careful not to express any of that to him because he’s prone to some anxiety anyway, so my husband and I discuss between us. When he figures it out (and he does), then we just try to reassure him and talk it out. It’s all we can do right now.

I work in school counseling, so this is a difficult struggle for so many kids. Hey…it’s a difficult struggle for US! It’s so hard not knowing what’s coming down the pike…and that’s one of the hardest things with this. The way I see it is, I’m preparing my mind for the worst case scenario and hoping for the best. But, yes…totally in the back of my mind…