@compmom , yes, I believe that a lot of colleges are shutting down their study abroad programs for now, bringing students home, and/or holding courses online. I spoke to someone in the Study Abroad department at Berklee yesterday and it sounds as if they’re considering their options about that as well.
I’m not all that worried about my son getting sick, as he’s young and pretty healthy. But I’d certainly prefer he avoid being ill whenever possible, and quarantine would be a major drag!
@Lindagaf , I wish the rest of the world had your certainty–it would definitely make planning things a lot easier, and less stressful for those whose health would be at more serious risk! But oooohhh…Japan. I would love to go too. I hope your daughter has a wonderful time, and @Knowsstuff , I hope yours gets to go as well.
@Knowsstuff , my D has won the CLS scholarship. I guess her plans will be dictated by the state department.
Funny. My daughter got it 2 years ago for Indonesia and is a semifinalist this year. She should know by midmarch. We are having the conversation this weekend. But my office manager husband works with the state department as being an administrator for the Women’s world soccer association… Yes that one and says he doesn’t trust their opinions on these matter and can site examples privately and that is what sorta worries me. Not to be political but this is the first time in my life that I am not sure I trust what the people in Washington are telling us… Again, not making this a political conversation please.
We are in this situation – my son was accepted to a program in Israel in mid-May. Just watching and waiting for now.
NBC news just said that airlines are waiving change fees for flights ‘during the next few weeks’ to Asian countries and Italy. I would imagine most will waive the change fees or allow you to cancel.
They are preparing for the Olympics in Japan but may change how certain events are held (torch run this spring, for one)
OP, just found my draft from a week ago, apparently never got around to posting it. I’ll use post it now anyway, hope it’s still relevant…
I do not mean to make light of your worries, or your children’s disappointment about lost chances, in a field like music where everything is more precarious and unpredictable anyway - I understand it’s not just a fun trip they will be missing. But the world has changed utterly within 6 weeks, and will change more.
@Lindagaf Congratulations to your D! Our D received the scholarship to study Arabic in Oman. Where will your D be studying?
@WImom94 , Japan. Congrats to your D too!
I see that a lot of these posts are about international (non-US) travel, but I wanted to note that most of the US airlines are waiving change fees for domestic flights, and for the tickets I just booked for two upcoming flights, the fares are great. If you are comfortable with the risk and you have somewhere to be, this is a really good time to shop for flights.
(I am comfortable with the risk for myself and my immediate family, and moreover, if worse comes to worse, our work and school situations mean that we are all easy to quarantine. But I would be concerned about exposing my parents or my husband’s parents. Unlike the numbers out of China, which are quite sobering but difficult to interpret, the numbers out of the Diamond Princess situation look easier to interpret and are… well… fine, as long as you are under the age of 70.)
@AsMother , I just noticed your thread. My son is admitted to multiple summer music (classical voice) programs in Italy and Austria in June. None have cancelled as yet, and two have offered full refunds (even the deposit) if they have to cancel due to the virus. Another promised it would still have the program but would move it somewhere else, as necessary. What we’ve done so far is hold off on purchasing air tickets, and he applied to several American based programs as a hedge. But really, who’s to say if New York City, for example, will be in any better position than Tuscany come this summer? It’s a total crapshoot. We have to decide soon as some of the programs have approaching deadlines. I am leaning towards paying deposits for one European program and one American program, then seeing which goes forward. I hate for him to have to cancel on one if they both proceed, but not sure what else to do.
@vistajay , “crapshoot” is, I think, the best word anyone has come up with so far to describe the entire situation!
Congratulations on your son’s acceptance into the programs! I hope that he (and my son) can at least get to one. The “crapshoot” situation makes it hard to even think what other summer options might be available. I don’t think my son applied to any domestic programs, but yeah–who knows where this might get much worse?
I’m a little annoyed that we haven’t received any more news from the organization, as the next installment for tuition is due on the 12th. We’ve already paid a $500 deposit, which I’m not keen to lose, but I really don’t want to send any more until we have confirmation that all moneys will be refunded if the festival doesn’t happen. We did buy a plane ticket already, but I suppose he can use it once all this dies down (for a $300 rescheduling fee, according to the airline!).
At the moment, I’m just wondering what will happen after spring break. From what I’ve heard, some schools are considering suspending classes for the remainder of the semester and trying to provide online classes or something (I’m not sure how well they could do that for a lot of music classes!). And frankly I’d be more comfortable if my son were coming home (Boston to NJ by train) now than at the end of the week. The number of cases seems to be increasing almost exponentially by the day, and dorms, classrooms, and train cars don’t seem to be the best places to be when there’s a virus going around unchecked! Perhaps I’m overreacting…
@AsMother I don’t know what’s reasonable, but I will tell you that my S’s dad drove to Rochester to pick him up for spring break and bring him back to NJ. For us the calculus as a little different as we have someone with a serious illness at
home, but in the end we decided it just wasn’t worth worrying about. I will drive him back next weekend.
@akapiratequeen , ugh…the thought of renting a car and driving back and forth between Boston and NJ is not exactly palatable! But we will do what needs to be done. As I said, I only wish that break started this week, rather than next…
Writing to you all from Washington state. Last Friday (Feb 28th), everything was relatively normal for us. Younger son went to math competition hosted at a public school with about 500 kids + parents. Starting Monday, everything started to be cancelled/postponed quickly. Upcoming piano competition is converted to a video submission format competition. From one cancelled event, we have received a refund automatically. Many schools got closed and rest is monitoring the outbreak daily and making decisions accordingly.
DD is going to Interlochen in the summer and we have already paid the deposit. We purchased airline ticket as well. Interlochen sent email a few days ago, as they will refund incase of CDC warning level of 3. I will hold off a bit on buying uniform and camp supplies, though i am hopeful that it is going to ease up after May.
On the side of precaution&preparadness, make sure you buy necessary things for your home. Once it hits the city, costco gets emptied pretty quickly.
Okay–I have to say that, especially since @vistajay and @musicalchessmom have already received information from the programs their children are planning to attend about how things will, or at least may, proceed, I’m getting kind of annoyed that we haven’t heard anything further from the organization running the program my son wants to do in Vienna.
I don’t want to be “that” parent, or create any issues that might jeopardize my son’s ability to participate in this or other programs, but I’m wondering if I should send another, stronger message to the organization and ask them when they plan to have a plan :). I KNOW how tricky this must be for them (as it is for so many others right now, with so little certainty), but it seems that they should be more responsive, especially with the next installment due this coming week. I also gather that the classical music community is in many ways a small one (although I assume that there are other parents asking them the same questions).
Any advice?
@AsMother , didn’t you post earlier that they said they would refund the tuition if they cancelled and that their only unknown was the lodging? Since you said you were able to manage the airfare issue with its $300 change fee, can you manage the loss of the lodging costs if you have to? If so, maybe send the next payment but with a note confirming your previous understanding that the tuition will be refunded if they cancel. Based on the photos on their website, it looks like a fairly small program, so they may not be inundated with other parents asking. Just my thoughts on the matter.
What does your son think about the situation? Has he spoken to his professor or anyone with past associations with the festival? I would encourage him to contact the organization (as opposed to a parent) due to his age. I believe I have used the old “I’m not paying another bill until you check this out” if my D ever dragged her feet on anything once she got into UG. I understand that this situation is a bit “different” and stressful…still I think that your S with the assistance of professors (who do festivals all the time) may have more insight.
Also with everything going on in Italy…it’s possible a key person or two is in lock down/sick etc. I would have your S communicate directly that he wants to attend and intends to pay the amount BUT, due to circumstances, he needs a response first on the cancellation policy. Maybe he sends it today and maybe again mid-week. I doubt he would lose his place…bc who’s going to take it at this point. If they are truly being unresponsive I doubt they have time to boot him out and get a new person! I think good, direct communication of intentions and concerns is the best you can do.
I hope that helps in some way.
@MMRose , I spoke to someone a little over a week ago by phone. At that point I wouldn’t have expected them to have a definitive plan, as no one else in the world seems to either! 
He was very nice, but he didn’t actually say that tuition would definitely be refunded–he only said that they were in discussions, and that an email should go out shortly about how they would proceed, and something like, “It seems like refunding the tuition would be the right thing to do.” I’ve just been around the block enough times to have learned that it’s good to get things in writing, and I was hoping to have had a response by now, since others here have from their prospective programs.
But I did send them another email yesterday afternoon, so I assume we’ll hear something pretty soon. I’m just going to hold off on sending any more money until we have written confirmation.
Our responses crossed! This is opinion…but I would hold any more payment right now. It sounds like you are doing the best you can. Hang in there.
Thanks, @bridgenail ! My son did write the first email, before I called last time–I agree that under most circumstances he should be the one doing the correspondence. But at this point, since this next payment is coming from me (he helped pay for the plane ticket, and was planning on paying his own expenses once he got there out of his own savings), I just felt that I wanted to be the Bad Cop and say that I wouldn’t be sending the next check until we had a definitive answer.
I don’t think they’re being intentionally unresponsive. Right now, everything is just so fluid (and not in a good way!!) that it must be incredibly complicated for them. It did occur to me that they may have faculty who may be uncertain as to whether they will be able to attend, and they apparently run a number of different programs in different countries. I’d personally be tearing my hair out if I had to sort out a situation like that! Nevertheless, considering most of us are becoming broker by the day :), I just need some kind of answer.