COVID 19 and Freshman in Fall 2020

TS0104
Fri, 20 Mar 2020 14:50:46 +0000

I’m so sorry for the position that you and all of the seniors/incoming freshmen are in right now. It’s hard to imagine!

As a parent with two kids in out of state colleges when this hit; it was stressful, but doable for us. One was in a day’s driving distance; he had a car and drove home, but while everything was still in flux, we knew that we could go and pick him up within a day if needed. My older child was at college across the country, in LA which was more stressful due to the higher numbers there. Yet, it was doable getting her home on short notice. Honestly, it’s the thought of travel bans/airports shutting down that was the biggest concern for us; as in her getting stranded out there.

Among my kids’ peers at home, going out of state is not the norm. I can say that my son’s experience through this wasn’t that different from those that went close to home (our state flagship is in our city) or in state. They were happily at college, they had to change spring break plans, then they had to abruptly come home. The only difference was the length of the drive. My D, being a long flight away, was different and felt much more stressful (compounded by the fact she was in LA specifically).

But every family is different. It depends on the kids’ independence level, comfort level, and the parents’ comfort level. Finances are a huge factor, and time flexibility to hop in the car and go get them, factors in too. Also, we have 1-3 years in at our OOS schools, enough to value them and the OOS experience, and want to continue there, even if online, and again, finances matter here too.