It’s pretty much what everyone expected - all online after Thanksgiving break.
Some takeaways:
Incoming families - mark your calendar so you can participate in the HRL webinar, since they are supposed to go into detail about move-in. Once that's outlined, if you are planning an overnight then get on your hotel reservation asap. Last I saw, the Inn was incorporating a "48 hours vacant" after registered stay policy. So all the rooms used on say a Monday wouldn't come back online until Thursday.
The focus on synchronous lectures for the online component of coursework. I think that will benefit students who need a structured environment.
No triples.
Curious what parking is going to say in July re: pricing/plans once kids see how their specific courses will be handled.
Also curious how they will handle family weekend. (Parents, while YMMV, you can pretty much get as much activity and a nice visit with your student on an off-weekend and save yourself a ton of money on a hotel).
There was a lot of chatter about them possibly starting mid August and finishing by Thanksgiving (as several other universities are doing), but this certainly fits better with off-campus leases, etc.
Also, the estimate that about 30% of classes will be face to face for a typical student combined with an emphasis on synchronous online means students will have to figure out things like how to handle situations like back to back classes where one is in person and the next is zoom (i.e., finding space on campus to zoom into a class while maintaining social distancing, etc.). Will be interesting to see how it all works. I think most people are happy there will be at least some on-campus experiences.
Does this mean outside of Blacksburg or will residence halls and dining still be open after Thanksgiving? Trying to understand what online after Thanksgiving really means.
I’m thinking everything will be open after Thanksgiving - they are preparing to social distance the professors I believe.
I saw the first impact of this appears that they are opening up more dorm space to allow for more singles. They are sending notices out to sophmores and upperclassman who had dorm rooms reserved that they are losing them. So there will be a mad rush this week for a lot of students scrambling for off campus housing.
I have not read this but am getting it from my wife who has been on with the VT Parents Facebook group. Some parents of freshmen said their kids received email notices from VT stating that they are not eligible for on campus housing. Our son is at work so we do not know yet if he has received the same email. We assume he has since he came off the waitlist in late April.
Talk about a bombshell at the last minute. I cannot comprehend requiring freshmen to find off campus housing and roommates in June. Additionally, by VT waiting until June to make this announcement students like my son are precluded from considering going to other schools that offered them generous scholarships.
@trf215 I’m seeing that too. Total panic. Some freshmen are receiving emails that nope, they don’t have guaranteed housing after all, and there is confusion over whether every freshman needs to go in and update their housing contract. Unbelievable. Off campus housing in Blacksburg is already at capacity after last year’s debacle.
@HokieCrazy they do not want students returning en masse after Thanksgiving after being exposed to who knows what. There might be exceptions made for students who can’t live at home for specific reasons (with very limited dining options on campus), but I think it’s safe to assume the vast majority of students will not return in person after Thanksgiving. It’s not just about professors, it is to prevent an outbreak with tens of thousands of students traveling and then reconvening on campus.
Online after Thanksviging meaning coursework. I would expect they will put together a gradual schedule for winding down of dining services and move out, like in any average semester just with an earlier timeframe.
@ShenVal18 people have posted screenshots of emails from housing, it’s not ‘gossip’.
Also, the whole point of going online after Thanksgiving is for students to not return after Thanksgiving (to prevent exposure after everyone has traveled). It’s the same reason a lot of other universities are starting earlier and finishing before Thanksgiving.
More details, a la text of an actual email? I have no problem seeing how students/parents of incoming freshmen could be misinterpreting the announced waiver of on campus housing requirement, in particular if it’s via the Facebook grapevine. This sounds an awful lot like communication being sent that a student can waive and is asking if they wish to waive their on campus housing requirement. And off campus housing, while many times at a premium, is not at capacity. Source: I’m the parent of an off campus student and friend of multiple families with off campus students. All of their complexes have vacancies.
I’m admittedly not on Facebook for a laundry list of reasons. I guess the question is - what does the message say? Not sure the point of the 2nd part of your post. It’s obvious why the cut off is Thanksgiving.
@ShenVal18 CC won’t let me post a screenshot, but it is a lengthy email, the pivotal line being "unfortunately, your assignment group was not selected to live on-campus housing for the 2020-2021 academic year’ It is very apologetic and says they didn’t make the decision lightly.
As for the second part of my post, why so snarky? I was trying to communicate that it isn’t just classes going online, the point is to not have anyone come back. Previous comments asked about that and suggested that kids would still be in dorms and have dining after Thanksgiving. In fact, they would prefer no travel even before then: “Those who travel away from Blacksburg at any time before Thanksgiving break may be subject to quarantine upon return depending on the location of travel and potential exposure to the coronavirus.” (from VT’s ‘ready’ website).
The second part of the message was in response to my question as to whether “online post Thanksgiving” meant online at Tech or online from home. I got both as answers, so I’m still not sure what the answer is.
Freshmen as receiving emails that the housing isn’t guaranteed? That’s not what we got. We got an email that said the contract was cancelled and they need to re-apply and agree to the new wording of the housing contract, which includes COVID-related items.
Curious as to the numbers and class year of those caught in the “wait list” category. I suspect small # of incoming freshmen? Either way, there’s the summer melt…
I can still see people misunderstanding/misinterpreting the reapply message, and pardon the derision towards Facebook but it is the last great bastion of overreaction/helicopterism.
My answer to the inquiry about my original post (“What we all expected, online after Thanksgiving”) was specific to coursework only as that is the only information available at the moment. Followed that with reply that re: dining, housing, etc. it’s gonna be the same drill as usual, just moved up by 3 weeks.
This is happening. Per the VT Housing website - “Regrettably, we were not able to offer on-campus housing to all students who might want it in the Fall. We understand our responsibility to promote the health and safety of the community at large, and take this obligation very seriously. Please know this was not a decision that was made lightly.”
As I mentioned before I am not sure if my incoming freshman son is affected by this but assume he will be. I would think in the middle of a once in a 100 years pandemic VT would have been more transparent and timely about this housing mess.
I don’t think any incoming freshman are affected by this. At least based on how I’m reading things. VT believes (as do I) that having freshman on campus is critical. I’m sure this affects sophomores and up who were planning on living on campus through the lottery. I would think even the West AJ 2-year contract is likely unaffected by this for rising sophomores in that program, but that might be wishful thinking on my part.
@trf215 Yes, exactly. There are screen shots of the email, but CC won’t let me paste a copy. Evidently all freshmen are supposed to resubmit their housing contract and everything is being reworked. A subset of students (some freshmen) were told, as trf215 stated above, that they no longer have housing.
Also, the same people are on CC and FB. Asking questions, making comments, speculating. Some people know things, some people are guessing. It’s the same kind of stuff. In this case, legitimate information was conveyed via the VT parent FB page (a screenshot of exact language), and a lot of people have agreed that they got the same email saying they no longer have housing. It’s a really crummy situation, exacerbated by the fact that off-campus housing is at capacity after last year’s massive over-enrollment.
Also, as for off-campus housing, Sturbridge and most of Terrace View are torn down or about to be. Supply is down, while demand is literally higher than it has ever been before. Town management confirms that we are maxed out.