SPS is still hopeful about returning.
My daughter’s college is doing this and honestly at this point it is annoying more than anything, because it is nothing but wishful thinking at this point. Even if things start opening up by the end of May, how realistic and wise would it be to bring kids and families from all over the world back to campus? And could the kids from outside of the US even come back? I very much understand the desire to have in person graduation but it is time to move to plan B and do it at a later date. And start with contingency planning for the fall.
Mercersburg just announced that we won’t be returning to campus for the rest of the school year. I knew it was coming, but still feel so sad.
They have approved prorated refunds for room and board and will send further information on how they will be applied /sent.
Same with Choate. HM’s son is in Class of 2020. Crossing fingers!
Has anyone other than Mercersburg heard anything about prorated room & board refunds?
@buuzn03 DS’s friend also had a zoom class hijacked. All zoom classes were immediately shut down. New procedures were put in place the next day.
Peddie is still having chapel which I think is great.
(I’m so far behind on this thread and am working backwards!)
@carpoolingma - I hear Deerfield is working on this prorated room & board -there is a virtual meeting for parents this week, so we will hear more.
@carpoolingma now the kids have to enter the waiting room before they are approved to enter class. The waiting room is open for 5 minutes after class start and then closed. So if you are late to class, you have to wait for the recorded version.
The same runs true for chapel, which SMS continues and all-school meetings (they are holding for selection of leadership positions for next year ). I’m loving looking on to these meetings and chapel. It gives me more of an idea of DS’s friends and normal daily activities.
@buuzn03 That is how Peddie handled it as well.
I got the feeling that a number of BS were talking about refunds of some sort but that none had actually done anything yet. Colleges, otoh, have begun processing them.
No mention of any type of refund from our school as of yet. . . Given that our DS’ college already refunded both room and board, it is a little annoying.
Which schools are processing room and board refunds?
Cate had a zoom webinar for the parents last night which was interesting. They are having them once a week for April. They are still in wait and see mode for whether the students come back - because if they have to make a decision now about whether it will happen, the answer is no. And they desperately want it to be yes. You could totally feel how sad the people were that the kids aren’t there. I am sure the same is true for all bs teachers - they are all crazy enough to want to live with hundreds of teens!
They are changing up the online learning approach a bit now that they have tried it for a couple of weeks and gotten feedback from students, parents and teachers. Sounds like they are moving from one session per week per class to two, and adding evening classes to accommodate international schedules.
The thought hadn’t crossed my mind before, but boarding schools are small businesses as defined by the CARES Act. So they are eligible for the Paycheck Protection money. Curious how that plays out. That might have something to do with the delay?
We received a refund of a portion of room and board from our college senior’s university. Nothing at all from the very very expensive semester abroad that understandably ended 1 month in to a 3 month course.
We just received notice we will be getting a prorated refund based on if the kids return midMay as planned. If they cannot, then our refund amount will increase.
It’s not much and I’d rather him be able to be there, but it’s definitely appreciated!
Has anyone from school(s) explained how they will figure out GPA or what will happen with GPA - are they just holding the GPA at the last term?
Darrow is also refunding a portion of room and board - just got the email. And an in person graduation is now off the table.
SMS does not calculate GPA nor do they provide individual GPAs to colleges. But they are keeping the grades earned for the year up to Spring Break (which is when the remote learning started) unless someone phones it in, in which their P/F Fail will bring their grade down.