From a parent viewpoint, my children have signed up for classes for the fall. For my D to graduate in Dec she needs 3 of the 4 classes she signed up for. This are specific classes for that major. If that professor decides to retire or leave, the university cannot just “remove the class” as it will affect graduation for quite a few students. There are of course many classes that are taught by Adjunct, but not her upper level classes. This whole scheduling of classes is a nightmare from all sides in a normal year. I cannot imagine how this will work out. Undergrad both my kids attend privates that are between 10-15K undergrad. So not an LAC, but not a large public.
And if they pair this with an app (required for all students of the college) they can have excellent results.
Here are the new and extremely detailed guidelines for operation at the University of Utah next year (which imply they will definitely be back in school, since Utah expects to be in yellow status by sometime in June and a few counties have already been approved for that status starting next week). The yellow column is the one to look at for details of how they will operate for the whole of next year:
https://coronavirus.utah.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/05/Project-Orange-Working-Document-v.3.pdf
Note that Utah is one of the lowest risk states in the country other than Alaska and Hawaii. The university also has a major teaching hospital onsite which carries out a large proportion of the tests in the state. . They indicate that they won’t move to green status until a vaccine is available (unless by designation of the governor, although the state health officer is suggesting that things won’t go back to normal until there is herd immunity, by which she means a vaccine).
Key things to note:
No more than 49 students in a classroom at one time [State guidelines impose limits of 50 people on group meetings when county is in yellow status]. Front row of seats blocked off; instructor at least 10 feet from students during lectures. Surface cleaning between classes.
All [dining] facilities open; some dine-in service with distance spacing between tables and limited hours, increased hygiene practices for customers and staff. No self-service buffet, meals plated and dropped at central pick up area; utensils distributed individually with food.
Limited number of residents (TBD) [in student housing] to decrease density and promote distancing. No guests allowed. Increased number of isolation rooms available for those with symptoms (includes food delivery). Symptom checking of residents (TBD). Employees wear face coverings and residents expected to wear face coverings [apparently when outside of your room, there is mention of distancing between “individual household groups” which appears to be how roommates will be classified].
In-person operation of [entertainment and events venues] is allowable under increased cleaning regimen and with operational protocols in place to ensure safe distancing restrictions are met. Both customers and employees wear face coverings. A 10-foot distance must be maintained between individual household groups at all times while seated; this may be decreased incrementally based on data and milestone trends. Participants (performers, actors) in events should have their symptoms checked. [There’s less clarity on sports, since they want NCAA guidance but the same is likely to apply and it appears athletics training is not going to be significantly restricted].
Roycroftmom, imho, whether or not it makes sense some departments at state universities won’t survive, though it will continue to be possible to study those subjects at very elite privates. It seems to me this adds to increasing inequality in access to education.
If my grandchildren go to their state university, I’d like them to have the opportunity, if interested, to study philosophy, classics, and all those “studies” courses, even if they aren’t majors. Some departments with relatively few majors, still have many students enroll and benefit from their classes. Sometimes they teach huge lecture courses, honors seminars,etc.
And some majors go on to graduate school and become professors. But without the major at state u, you also lose the graduate program there. Does that matter? Eventually it probably impacts the reputation of state u.
Can we afford this in the future? I don’t know, but it does seem to me really excellent state universities have been a benefit to society.
Columbia just sent out an email saying that they will de-densify campus by moving to three academic terms next year: fall 2020, spring 2021, and summer 2021.
"…Taking these and other factors into account, we have made one key decision: to prepare to use the three upcoming academic terms—fall 2020, spring 2021, and summer 2021—as a unit of time in order to provide us with the greatest amount of flexibility in organizing our educational experiences.
By leveraging a longer period of time, we will be able to de-densify our campus so that all students may experience much, if not most, of their coursework in person over the arc of the three terms. While this is just the beginning of a University-wide effort to determine the specifics of the academic year, we now have the capacity to tap into the rich expertise and creativity of our University leaders and faculty to shape the substance and content of this one-time arrangement. By July 1, Ira Katznelson, our spectacular deans, and I will have more details to share about how the three terms will be composed."
Is the idea that everybody goes to two of the three terms, so there are 2/3s as many students on campus as usual?
Not sure if this has been posted yet:
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Here-s-a-List-of-Colleges-/248626
“Here’s a List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall”
It’s the Chronicle of Higher Education but it is not behind a paywall.
Not sure if it is updated or static as of 4/23.
@BirdintheHand So kids will go to school two of those three semesters? That is a creative option and it looks like one that Amherst is considering too. I wonder who will want summer. It will likely be the younger set since rising juniors will want to work or do research and seniors will have graduated. I guess that means some kids have to go fall and then summer? It will be interesting to see how they decide who goes when and if students will have a say.
I agree, @Alh, but not every public campus needs to offer every department. Right now, only some offer nursing or engineering, for example. Maybe only some should offer theatre or Slavic languages or whatever as well. Students interested in those electives could choose from maybe 4 of the public u branches, not all 12.
@“Cardinal Fang” @homerdog That was my first thought, but who knows? I guess we’ll have to wait until July 1 for the details. My son said that he’d heard a rumor of this solution, but he hasn’t given me any more details about the prevailing wisdom yet. (He’s in a virtual meeting right now.) He got his classes and room assignment two or three weeks ago, so I wonder if that will all be re-done during the month of August, or if he’ll just get revised info on July 1? It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
That already happens, for unpopular liberal arts fields.
Okay… we do agree. I’m pretty much talking state flagship losing departments and graduate programs, though I certainly want engineers and nurses everywhere to be able to take electives in theater and Slavic languages, for example, because my engineer brother strongly feels this sort of coursework would have benefited him in career and personal life.
The issue of how often pre-requ and co-requ classes are offered is a HUGE issue if schools are going to switch from a 2 semester to a 3 semester schedule. Even if kids will attend all 3 semesters, but with 1 being from home, you have an issue if one of these classes has a lab requirement or other requirement that can only properly be fulfilled by using resources that are on campus.
I like the idea of college campuses opening earlier in August and ending the first semester by Thanksgiving. Then try to open the second semester in January as planned. My son’s school breaks at TG (briefly) and they all return for about 2 1/2 weeks to finish classes and take final exams. This reminds me of this year’s spring break. The traveling back and forth seems to be the problem. I remember thinking, “if only they could cancel break and keep everyone on campus they could finish.” Obviously trimester schools are different. I recognize it is hard to contain students on a large campus but the travel doesn’t help.
I have worked as an adjunct and you get a contract each semester which gives you your salary per credit hour only. You get nothing else - no benefits, no unemployment, no retirement…no nothing. This is why it typically isn’t a desirable job.
I get why some schools are passing on Fall semester, and going to a Spring and Summer semester model instead. They are hoping that we will get more tools to treat the physical effects of the virus, they will learn what works and doesn’t work from other schools that go back in the Fall, they are postponing revenue rather than missing it (with the exception of whatever revenue they would have otherwise generated over the summer), and the majority of their students wouldn’t have gotten an internship anyway since a lot of companies will be slashing their budgets.
The obvious answer is that the consumers want the service providers to bear the costs, and the service providers want the consumers to bear the cost, as it always is when facing a lose-lose situation.
The risk with that strategy is that a second wave hits then they miss not only fall revenue but potentially spring and summer revenue as well. A gamble either way.
The only thing we know for sure is that no school’s solution will be optimal. Every solution on the table is sub-optimal. Everyone…parents, students, faculty, staff will have to adapt.
Wouldn’t that depend on the field that the college instructor is in?
Seems like those in some fields can easily find well paying industry jobs in their fields, but those in some other fields may have much more difficulty.
True that.