My daughter was accepted to UT for fall. She was a CAP student and attended freshman year UTSA. So she was thrilled to finally be heading to UT Austin. Then the virus hit. So now after signing up for her sophomore classes, she is seeing they will ALL be online. The struggle now is, should she go live in Austin or stay home? UT is asking for $300 just to consider housing contract. Her friends are all going back to their schools. All varied situations. One is an A&M student. Her classes are a mix of in person & online. Very torn since my daughter’s are all online. Another girl is Uof H and will live at home, but visit campus for some things. Oh, forgot to add, as of now UT Austin is back to business in Aug/for fall, but the plan is for students not to come back after Thanksgiving Break.
@WylieA, that’s tough. Austin is not doing too well at fighting the spread of the virus right now. My sister lives in Austin and she just found out her next-door neighbor and his son tested positive. I would be leery about sending my child to Austin, but I know everyone has to go with their comfort level.
And IMO A&M will just end up as online too. This trajectory is just too big to look better in 6 weeks.
Many on this thread seem to have decided that their kids are going to live off campus in the fall, “no matter what”. Are the colleges within driving distances? If not, what would you do if there’s another lockdown in the town the college is located? Grocery shopping and dining options may be limited, or at least inconvenient. Would you let your kid stay in the off-campus apartment? Flights may or may not be available and there might be significant risk taking a flight at that time.
My son is going back no matter what. I’m not sure what you mean by ”Would you let your kid stay in the off-campus apartment?” He is an adult with an apartment. Of course he can stay if he chooses. He will have a car so he can come home if he wants to but I really don’t see him making that choice. Why do you think it will be more difficult for him to get groceries than any other person living in the town? I think he can figure out how to get food. These “kids” are adults, not children.
It is of course far safer for a young adult, with low risk of complications, to remain near campus than to come home and risk infecting older parents. The sad fact is, our kids would need to take care of us, not the other way around.
Sounds like his college is within driving distance. That’s different than a kid who has to fly home. I understand these kids are adults and can (and should) make their own decisions. However, as parents, should we be concerned that they may run into issues with dining and grocery shopping in the event of a lockdown like we had in the spring (or even worse) if they choose to stay in their off-campus apartments?
In thinking about all of this, I’m much less fearful of letting my (social) kid go to school and live on campus than to have him stay here where his 88 yr old grandparents are.
Instacart or other services are available in most places. There are many food delivery services students utilize. Your student also likely has friends who would be willing to drop off food if needed. Amazon pantry still delivers.
My daughter is going to live off campus, and it’s a few hours flight away from our home.
She has no risk factors for covid, and if a shelter in place rule were to be put in place in her state I am sure she would be able to get food, meds, and other necessities delivered.
I’m not sure what I would do if she does get infected, but would consider flying out to be near her, but again, not sure, will just depend on the overall situation at that point.
Availability of services like Instacart may be limited in a major outbreak. Back in March and April here in NJ, food delivery services were very limited, even nearly impossible to arrange. Choices were also highly limited. I’m not sure one can count on these services in another major outbreak, especially in areas populated by college students.
I am confident in my student’s ability to handle the situation. Yes, there were shortages, but no one starved. Perhaps suggesting they stock up on non perishables now, as other adults do, would be prudent.
Some schools are creating bubbles like the NBA in Orlando. They’re limiting the number of students each semester and only offering singles. Bowdoin and Amherst are letting 1st-years get a taste of campus life more safely by staggering arrival dates but requiring everyone to exit at Thanksgiving.
@1NJParent , we’re in the fortunate position since our daughter will only be a 2 1/2 hour car ride away instead of across the country like last year. Her apartment is a short walk to campus; she will be sharing it with 2 close friends. Although she will not be on the meal plan, I will ensure she has some money on her school card to grab a meal from campus dining or store if necessary.
My D will stay in her apartment. She is a flight away from home. During the last lockdown, I had no problem getting her food. She didn’t starve. It’ll be fine.
I was watching Parent Orientation videos for UT Austin & the food issue is a real concern. Would we really want kids eating from campus dining if there is a Covid outbreak? Maybe I am overly cautious. I’ve been staying home regardless of any order. We are just outside Houston & things are pretty bad currently/Covid numbers. We are only eating what we get thru curbside pickup from our local grocery, so it makes me nervous just thinking about food at or around a college campus. I guess we all are handling this our own way. We’ve been super cautious and I am having to come to grips with how to proceed/as far as my daughter goes. The awful thing is, this virus is not going to go away anytime soon. Her classes are all online despite UT plan currently to proceed w/fall semester & then kids not return after Thanksgiving. Most people we’ve spoken to do plan for kids to go back. I am one of those people that is blessed (a curse actually) with thinking way ahead and worrying. I wish I could be more happy go lucky about this. Sure these young adults are self sufficient & I trust my daughter 100% to be smart about everything. This situation is just beyond us all. I don’t think anyone really knows where we’re headed. We are on the fence due to her classes being online. I guess that is lucky in a way & gives us the option of her just staying home. Agreed, extremely boring for her & certainly not the experience she hoped for. She will be a sophomore, so at least she had a little bit of “real college life” while it lasted her freshman year. Nice to vent on here and hear others thoughts. BTW, this is my youngest. Other two Adult children are in 2 different countries during this madness. So I will admit I am pretty rattled by it all. Then again, the whole world is.
My D is a sophomore at Rice and I’m a little freaked about the situation in Houston. We live in Wisconsin and things are OK here right now. My D really, really, really wants to get back to campus. Rice just announced their plan a few days ago and it sounds like a lot of kids are deciding to stay home and others are moving off campus but most of my D’s friends want to stay in the dorm (if they can get a spot after the rooming process if redone). It’s making it hard because as long as her friends are going back she wants to go back too. It’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks while we work though everything.
“Off campus” is a relative term at many campuses. At UMich, most students live “off campus” after freshman year. And most apartments are 5-10 minute walk to Central Campus.
Starve? Heck, I already order my ready-to-eat meals (paleo) from three separate companies, I assume they’ll likely still be shipping, if the local grocery stores are out of food.
No flights to CA? There are planes, trains and automobiles to CA. Worst case scenario, and the world is coming to an end, I’ll drive to MI and back. And I’ll take a few weapons to beat back the Zombie apocalypse. :lol:
Am I missing something…no one ran out of food during lockdown, and grocery stores remained open (albeit many with shortened hours), with buying food defined as an essential activity allowed under lockdown. The temporary shortages of certain items have been resolved by customer limits on bread, pasta etc since. I think many college dining halls also moved to “grab and go” food. Under what circumstances would a college kid have problems getting food? Is this specific to a small college town with limited food outlets, or do you mean if your kid gets sick and is quarantined, or what?
@WylieA --I understand what you are asking. I am still in the denial phase about my son returning, and am still hoping he won’t.
Since the first week of March, we have only eaten food that I have prepared. I do go out and purchase groceries myself (mask, gloves, wipes, etc), but I just cannot bring myself to buy carry-out food. I have not bought into the whole ‘virus cannot be transmitted by food service worker to your food’. However, we are all massively bored of my cooking.
Fortunately, school is only an hour’s drive away and apparently he can take a leave as late as mid-Sept, so our situation is much more surmountable than most.
@PrdMomto1 – I do not blame you for being concerned about Houston. I think most of these students desperately want to return to their campuses.