The message just went out.
Michigan is cancelling in-person classes starting tomorrow. Alternative format starts Monday. Classes normally end 4/21 anyway.
No approach is perfect. If they waited to announce until the kids got back some people would not be happy with that. Will online access, I expect that kids will find a way to manage.
I told my daughter to prepare for being away from campus for a while when she comes home for break this weekend. Benefit of other schools making their announcements this week.
Thank you for starting this thread @TomSrOfBoston
A few years ago, i read an article about what happened to the top law students who graduated in 2009…most of them had offers in hand starting in very early 2009 but most of them then lost those offers as law firms contracted. The next year, law firm began hiring associates again but they recruited directly from the colleges (as the norm) and the 2009 graduates were cast adrift.
I fear that will happen with some undergrads now…internships are either gone (like my son’s oversea fellowship) or even more hyper competitive than ever because of people who are having to look anew for an internship AND the thousands of students who have had their study abroad programs canceled and will now seek internships instead.
It’s a mess out there…it truly is.
I mean, my D comes back to Seattle, unknowingly catches the virus, and then goes back to school when it’s OK to return. Then she will be spreading her virus to bunch of other people on campus. It doesn’t make sense.
@SouthernHope The thread was atarted by @marrast . So thanks to him/her.
@HiToWaMom, the problem is that if one case arrives on campus now the school will be left with thousands of students who need to be quarantined without the rooms and facilities to separate students. You could end up with a situation similar to what’s happened on cruises.
One has to wonder if the whole online scenario doesn’t work out (labs, lack of prep, logistics) that this semester really could be a wash for many undergrads. The online approach is not going to be universally practical, and that schools may end up having to offer make up semesters. That is the BEST outcome that I can see. That is assuming that there is a vaccine and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. In reality if the global outcome isn’t that rosy this worrying over logistics will be irrelevant. We all really have to consider this as minutiae.
Once students all leave campus and are now exposed how can they reopen in a few weeks? What changes? They can bring CV19 back to campus in one week, three weeks, one month, or six months from now. Where are we going with this?
2009 graduates (not just law) lost the graduation year lottery… it is looking like 2020 graduates will also be losers. The next few years’ graduates will also face heightened competition because of the backlog of unemployed graduates from 2020.
Hmmmm, I just wondered if my D comes back to Seattle, she might become THAT one case starting the virus on campus after all the kids are allowed back to campus.
Don’t some of them come back to campus WITH the virus even though they clean the campus?
I’m not trying to start argument. I’m just wondering… It sounds like chicken or the egg question.
UVA now is moving all classes online. It is the first Virginia school to do so.
UVA students are currently on spring break and were scheduled to return to class on Monday. The university on Wednesday “strongly encouraged” students who are away on spring break to return home or to remain home if they are already there. Students who stayed on campus or in Charlottesville for spring break were strongly encouraged to return home by this weekend.
The university said it will reassess the situation after April 5 at the earliest and periodically after that date. UVA is prohibiting events with more than 100 people for the foreseeable future and is suggesting events be held virtually if possible.
“Given that fact, the easiest and least disruptive option would have been to bring all students back to Grounds as planned and hope to make it through the rest of the semester without a confirmed case. We also considered bringing students back and moving only large classes online,” President Ryan said.
But after talking with medical experts and as the evidence of the spread in Virginia and abroad mounted, the university said it believes these approaches would not be sufficient and would create too much risk, especially for the university’s health system and the medical center, which is a Level 1 trauma center and “may be stretched to the limits in the coming weeks and months.”
“Experts have also told us that the best time to take steps to prevent that spread is now, before the first case arrives,” Ryan said.
not only did my child not bring home his books, he did not bring home any clothes since he was only going to be home for a week and had a few things still here. WE have not heard from his university, but it does tend to draw from the Northeast and those who can drive, but we are a plane ride away. I am hoping that he can still go back Sat, and if nothing else, pack. If they require all students to leave campus permanently i would have to find a storage unit or similar, and with my child having challenges I would have to fly up there as well . I am hoping that they will allow some to remain on campus. I know they have to for the international population
@HiToWaMom, I think schools are playing it by ear. The situation is changing day by day so I think college leadership is just making a best effort to keep kids safe. I believe at schools that have turned to remote learning the hope is that by the fall this will all have died down so that kids can return to campus next semester.
My nightmare is that my kid will be trapped at school many states away. Although hers is in a state currently without the virus I’m ambivalent about sending her back when her vacation ends at the end of the week.
UCF is going to online instruction starting March 16. They are currently on Spring break. They are asking kids to not come back or to leave, but dorms will stay open. D18 is on campus and will stay on campus as she has work. A lot of kids work at the theme parks and can’t leave.
They will continue online instruction for at least 2 weeks.
My child left most of her books and clothes at school. She only planned to be home for a week. Figuring out a plan but she and DH will likely fly out and pack up her room by this Sunday. Grateful we have the means to afford it. So many students are stuck and simply can’t afford to leave. I hope schools find a way to help them.
A friend of D19, whose family lives in New Rochelle, is coming to stay with us for a while. Perhaps your daughter could stay with families or friends in some other location until things get better in Seattle?
@OH2020MOM , with the colleges’ resources so taken up by all of this change, I wonder if decisions might come out LATER than normal. Or, if deadlines to accept will be pushed back.
I am wondering if these college closures are just hitting a more broad goal of “flattening the curve” of transmission across the country; making the sacrifice for the greater goal of nationwide public health. Preventing large groups of people from being in close contact, similar to the event cancellations and sports events spectator restrictions. And the fact that so many college kids were traveling all over for spring break probably contributed to the decisions. All just my opinion, but it has made my kids feel a little better about their frustrations and disappointments over this to look at it on a nationwide/worldwide scale, not just their school.
Both of my college kids’ medium sized schools have moved online temporarily; students are allowed to access their dorms for their belongings and submit a form to stay if needed.
I hope colleges are communicating and sharing best-know-methods. Stanford is addressing the “I left my books/clothes/meds in my dorm” by offering to ship those items back to the student on request.
University of Kentucky will go to online classes when classes resume after spring break next week. Saying its expected to run through April 3 but no way to know. Campus residence facilities remaining open.
@Rivet2000 I hope so too. Penn is also offering to ship belongings back to students, but there are some items in D’s room that need to be moved into a shared storage unit. We don’t trust the school with the details. Since her return flight was already booked, D can pack and say goodbye to her friends.