So I keep hearing from experts on CNN that this virus is the “first” wave. The second wave should be in the fall. I guess this is a historical pattern with viruses of this type. So if something like this is even remotely true then what are some precautions you will take? What things might you change? I really don’t know. Guess have them have more things on hand to keep them safe.
D drove back to school last night and is moving home this morning. She didn’t think she’d make it ahead of the shelter in place order if she tried to do it one day. School was accommodating and flexible with switching the move out time.
We are getting $750 from housing and any remaining food plan is rolling over to next year. Seniors are getting the meal plan dollars refunded. (Purdue).
Professors started trialing their online classes and discussion groups and they seem to work well. We will see Monday how it goes when all classes move on line.
Haverford seems to be dragging their feet in figuring things out. They announced yesterday that they won’t be going back to in-person this semester, but the rest was a bit of a placeholder- they’ll let people know about their plans for grades, about possible refunds for r&b, and about what to do about the dorm rooms full of kids stuff (they closed over spring break). I like to think they’re being methodical, but I find it worrisome that answers are so slow to come.
My undergraduate school cancelled classes, then graduation, and now reunion weekend in June. I was looking forward to seeing old classmates.
I am beginning to wonder if they will even go back in the fall, especially if we still don’t have the ability to test every sick person who wants to be tested.
So my son is staying put at Michigan. He got the OK. They are bombarding them with work in his field. He is alone in the apartment and we agreed probably safer there then here. He is forgoing the $1200 credit. He has food and TP for now and most Likely will go up next weekend to take a few things away from the apartment . He can walk or bus to Kroger etc when needed
He doesn’t want to take an Uber. Thinks that would be worse. Busses are pretty empty now. He will wipe everything in site.
His core group is still at school in apartments.
But my daughter wants to go back to campus. She’s a senior and she is moving in with 2 friends for the last 2 months while she has a subletter for her apartment who is taking over the apartment next year anyway. Long story but this is actually a good move. She has been social distancing and gets it. She normally would be taking busses and subway everywhere now and really hasn’t left the house. She’s had a lot of homework working on her senior thesis. Her apartment is off campus when the weather breaks she can go walking /hiking and kayaking. She’s my outdoor nature girl. These are stress relievers for her…
So we are taking her tomorrow and doing a small move tomorrow from one apartment to the next. Manly things like clothes, books.
Don’t know if any of these decisions are good ones. There is not a Pandemic chapter in the Parents Rules Book… I checked ??
Youngest D at West Chester University in PA. She was to return on March 15 from spring break but we moved her out on the 14th. School was very organized with it, staggering move out times for different dorms.
We are supposedly getting a prorated refund for meal plans and dorms. I was very surprised as the PASSHE schools aren’t funded well by the state and that will be a huge hit. D will lose her Pell grants next year, so the refund will definitely be helpful.
I agree with those who are saying that there is some danger normalcy will not be restored by the fall semester. I really loved this op-ed piece in The New York Times by the director of a CDC-affiliated research group at Yale. It argues that a more targeted response, aimed at protecting the groups most vulnerable to the virus as opposed to shutting down all of society, would be better for society both in terms of a risk-benefit analysis and in terms of long-term immunity to the virus itself:
Is Our Fight Against Coronavirus Worse Than the Disease?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/opinion/coronavirus-pandemic-social-distancing.html?referringSource=articleShare
Are there any universities in this country that are still doing classes on campus at this point?
My son’s school, Elon, is currently saying online up until 4/20 (extended from 4/5). So they haven’t pulled the plug on the entire semester yet. They do go a little later in May than most schools. They haven’t kicked everyone off campus (but get stronger and stronger language each week encouraging anyone left to leave), and have not advised anyone to move their stuff out. (I can’t imagine that they will be back in classrooms in April, but they seem to be making decision in smaller chunks rather than the big moves most schools are making).
@Knowsstuff we are having the same kind of decision process for our junior daughter. Even if summer school is online, she would like to go back and thinks that if stores aren’t empty, she would be OK sheltering in place there. She has an off campus apartment and a car, and babysitting jobs when they are allowed. But that decision will be on hold for a while as her college home is LA and things are worse there. We are also worried about flight bans or airport closures.
@TS0104 So are Elon kids all home for spring break right now? I hope they aren’t all on campus.
I don’t get a college that still has kids on campus. Have they not seen Dr. Fauci every stinking day saying people have to stay six feet apart? Aren’t these kids putting every older person and every person with underlying conditions at risk? It’s irresponsible.
My daughter’s school, Susquehanna, finally announced they’re going online for the remainder of the semester. D is in a campus apartment. She was hesitant to come home since her dad is at risk of severe complications if he gets the virus, but I told her she will have to come sooner or later, so it might as well be now. Then a Dean from her school called me. The woman said she would “reinforce” my suggestion with D. A few minutes later, D texted me that she will be coming home tomorrow. 
Coincidentally, late tomorrow afternoon they will be delivering our restored Steinway so she’ll get to play it right away. Have to look for positives in all of this.
My son’s girlfriend was given permission to stay in the dorm at the American University of Beirut. She’s from Syria and was afraid she might not have a good internet connection for online classes. She might also not have been allowed back in Lebanon if she’d gone home. S has airline tickets to Beirut mid-April, but right now the Beirut airport is closed and I’m praying it stays that way!! S will arrive in Maine from Texas a week from tomorrow.
@homerdog no, before they left for spring break (last week), the announcement was made that classes were moved online until 4/5. Then later messages were sent asking students not to come back from break, and/or to leave if they haven’t left. That messaging continues. Students can file to stay if they “must.” I have no idea how many are left or how they are approving who can stay. All activities are cancelled, one dining hall is open for 10 people at a time six feet apart, and staff are monitoring/enforcing social distancing (all from what I’ve read…my son came home for spring break and will remain here).
I am super happy my D20 has decided to stay close to home next year. She was so adamant about going “out east” for school. I am also glad she made her decision “before” and it was actually her choice and not forced because of the circumstance…she doesn’t feel like she is having to settle. She got into Wellesley today and was only a little sad.
I disagree. I had two kids start college at the same time. Both schools were in similar economic areas (small towns, rents in the towns about the same) and one paid $13,500 for R&B and one paid $8000. My nephew, also started college in 2014, paid about $15k. Schools in NYC and LA and even other New England LACs were above $16k. Surprisingly, the R&B at both kids’ schools have stay about the same over the years while other schools have risen.
The schools might be telling the students to go home, but many of them have off campus housing and leases. They ARE at home, living at their own apartments. In Boulder, there are almost 37,000 students at the university. They can send home the 6000 students living in dorms, but that still leaves ~30k students in town. The landlords aren’t giving housing refunds. I don’t know what they are doing about graduate student housing (CU owned) since those student LIVE in those apartments with their spouses and children. Those are their homes.
@knowstuff lol. I intentionally posted here as my best guess. One thread has zero interest in anything college related and the other I could find has to do with things you are doing with your new situation.
This seemed closest to the right audience for the debt relief etc. ??♂️
@twoinanddone Sure, some school’s room and board is a little higher or a little lower. All of the schools both of our kids considered had very similar room and board costs. And I looked at Michigan’s before I made that comment. But we aren’t talking about $8k versus $13k. We are all only losing 1/4 of the year so it’s $2k versus $3k. Not much of a difference.
As for living off campus, of course kids aren’t getting a refund. I don’t think I ever said anything about that and, of course, that’s a loss. I’m sure it’s hard to know whether to let kids stay or come home in some of those situations. I do hope most kids will go home though. What happens if someone gets the virus in their off campus apartment? Are the roommates going to do the right thing and quarantine and then be able to figure out who can bring them what they need for 14 days?
Everyone is losing money during this virus in lots of ways. 
This is what the British government (and the German government, to a lessor extent) was going to do, before they saw the prediction from the Imperial College of London, which had by far the most accurate prediction when the coronavirus first broke out in Wuhan. Every healthcare system in the world would be overwhelmed without extreme governmental interventions. British government realized that locking down only the most vulnerable in the society would be woefully insufficient, and it ordered a full lockdown. Even Australia, with only about 1,000 cases are in full lockdown.
If the lockdowns/shelter in place orders do flatten the curves over the next month or two (so as to not to overwhelm the healthcare system), then one of the important next decisions will be to decide when does normalcy return?
That decision will be partially informed by how much damage to the economy each country is willing to accept for a disease that is mild and requires no medical treatment for many (up to 99% in S. Korea in the NYTimes article, but seems lower in some other countries).
Those showing mild or even no symptoms are still infectious. One of lessons from China, particularly from the epicenter Wuhan, is the need to isolate these people. LA county, and maybe others in CA as well, is now trying to confine them to some particular facilities (e.g. Sheraton Fairplex Hotel & Conference Center in Pomona). Similar policies have worked out extremely well in China.