School in the 2020-2021 Academic Year & Coronavirus (Part 1)

[roycroftmom]

Is that any different than other Colleges? Most of these statements look identical to me.

[Nhatrang]

@wisteria100

One of the reasons a vaccine may be available in record time is because production will start prior to approval. That’s never been done before and cuts lots of time out of the process. Of course if a certain vaccine is not approved, then the production is a waste of money, but that is a risk deemed worth taking.

Yes, also other activities are also happening in parallel as opposed to the traditional sequential approach.

[CC_Sorin]

@MaineLonghorn

@CCadmin_Sorin, can you remove the tag? Thanks!

Sure, @MaineLonghorn! I removed the tag.

[Rivet2000]

Let us take pause to remember our once great tag - Long Live Humboldt!!

[saillakeerie]

Statements put forth by colleges will have marketing/spins to them. Colleges taking very different approaches may well give similar reasons for doing so.

Best and worst case scenarios will vary by student. Making it more complicated.

[xyz123a]

@socaldad2002

One way they can “figure it out” is to allow doubles in a room. Many colleges like Boston College and UCLA, for example, will treat a student and their roommate as a “family” and will take precautions as needed for that “pod”.

Could you link or let me know where you saw this info about BC? I have not seen this part of the plan yet and wondering what else I have missed.

[Knowsstuff]

@Rivet2000

Let us take pause to remember our once great tag - Long Live Humboldt!!

Wait!!! No Tshirts?!??!!!

[ChemAM]

Best tweet I’ve seen in a while:

"ladies, if he’s:

• mysterious
• vague
• got you and your girls trying to decode messages
• always keeps you guessing which way he'll go

that’s not your man, that’s your university’s Fall 2020 reopening plan"

[Knowsstuff]

@ChemAM
That’s really funny ?.

[Happytimes2001]

@ChemAM Sounds like your Dad is a wise man.
I laugh when I read some of these posts. So many ideas and overthinking regarding something which is in a state of flux. Yes, colleges need to have plans and alternate plans. So do parents and students. But thinking that things are going to be this way or that is insane. Colleges are like families, they are going to do what is best for them. They will make their plans attractive enough to ensure they get the funds for 20-21. Then they will change their plans as they go along. So will your kids.

[Knowsstuff]

So now that the dust has settled. (it’s settled right?). If you can afford it and get an apartment, house, large tent, have some kids live together. There is nothing like making burgers on the grill. Then burning burgers on said grill. Then ordering pizza since your starving. This is what they will remember about the Covid fall semester 2020. Being able to study down the hall from your buddy. Just hanging out. Everyone complaining that their internet doesn’t work great. Having to use their phone as a back up.
LOL.

I understand not everyone can have this type of situation. But if you can swing it I would highly suggest it. I was just suggesting to be around campus since they are already familiar with their surroundings and let’s face it. Maine is pretty nice in the fall.

Being stuck at home all fall to me would suck. If that’s the case maybe there are some local study groups that can be formed?

Again, I would reach out to alumni now and try to get something lined up
Even if it’s a few hours a week like a work study program.

[suzyQ7]

@homerdog

@socaldad2002 in Bowdoin’s defense, they do think they figured it out. Their priority was protecting the health of everyone and then providing well-planned remote classes. This plan allows them to have 35 percent of kids on campus for fall and work out the kinks of the testing, distancing, etc protocol and supposedly get it going for a bigger group in the spring. That’s what they are trying to plan for. They didn’t think they could feasibly keep a spike from happening if everyone came back. I’m sure they think some other schools are acting rashly in their plans. They don’t say that, of course, but when pushed we heard things like “we’ve done the research and the planning and this is the only way to open safely for Bowdoin”.

What bigger group in spring? I thought they were kicking out the freshman in spring? So Spring will be everyone but freshman?

I hate that they are backing the potential off campus students into a corner. Why can’t the students who choose to live off campus have access to all on campus services in the spring? This makes no sense. I get the housing situation - but if they choose off campus, they should be able to get testing, access library, etc. in the spring.

[suzyQ7]

@Knowsstuff

So now that the dust has settled. (it’s settled right?). If you can afford it and get an apartment, house, large tent, have some kids live together. There is nothing like making burgers on the grill. Then burning burgers on said grill. Then ordering pizza since your starving. This is what they will remember about the Covid fall semester 2020. Being able to study down the hall from your buddy. Just hanging out. Everyone complaining that their internet doesn’t work great. Having to use their phone as a back up.
LOL.

I understand not everyone can have this type of situation. But if you can swing it I would highly suggest it. I was just suggesting to be around campus since they are already familiar with their surroundings and let’s face it. Maine is pretty nice in the fall.

Being stuck at home all fall to me would suck. If that’s the case maybe there are some local study groups that can be formed?

Again, I would reach out to alumni now and try to get something lined up
Even if it’s a few hours a week like a work study program.

I could not agree with this more. This is the experience of non-commuter kids at large publics who almost always move off campus and absolutely the experience of European residential students. They get an apartment and go to lectures, self study, do research, have study groups, and enjoy the local area where they live.

[homerdog]

@suzyQ7 for spring, freshmen would go home and (worse case scenario) just seniors back. They are hopeful that their system of testing and tracing work really well in fall and they will be able to welcome sophomores and juniors too. I don’t know what that means for housing. It’s still not full capacity but maybe there will have to be some doubles. All doubles are suites anyway so they are big.

If you plan to live off campus in spring, they are saying you’re not part of the bubble of campus with testing and tracing and can’t keep track of you and that messes up the whole system so they can’t have you on campus. Now, that might not be a big deal if campus life is very restricted. Classes are most likely still going to be online. We don’t even know if there will be sports or if other buildings will be open. It’s possible that being off campus in spring will be preferable to being n campus. All unknown. Like everything else.

[1NJParent]

@roycroftmom

Aren’t almost all of MIT courses available free on EdX, and have been for years?

No, only a small subset.

[sylvan8798]

@Rivet2000

I could go on, but IMO, a very sub-par plan, and I know that we disagree on this so lets just move on.

Again, best thoughts and wishes to you, your students, and your school.

I’m thinking the snark is uncalled for. I am really curious, though, as to how people think college departments/faculties work (or should work) with direction, oversight, and the like vs how they actually do work.

[mom1720]

@xyz123a From the BC Student FAQ on the reopening page under residential life:

“What is BC’s plan to reduce the number of students in each dorm room?
Boston College will not be placing three students in rooms designed for double occupancy. All other rooms will be targeted at designed capacity.”

[jym626]

Has this article been shared yet? https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/22/working-paper-models-covid-spread-university?fbclid=IwAR3CZhc3r2FDqlui3Wq4brpvrBtD-Bpb_9hTSGJRQULX3CKGwBPlvSDluBA#.XvC0jNolUfU.facebook

The model examines a hypothetical large university of 20,000 students and 2,500 instructors who interact daily for 100 days. The mean class size in the simulation is 24 students, with 90 percent of classes having 50 students or fewer.

Each day in the model, there is a 25 percent chance that one individual on campus not in quarantine, who has not already been infected, can become spontaneously infected by nonuniversity contact, a rate researchers said was rather low compared to other estimates.

In the absence of any intervention at all, the model suggests that all susceptible community members would acquire COVID-19 by the end of the semester, with peak infection rates between 20 and 40 days into the semester, even if the semester begins with no infections.

A standard intervention, consisting of quarantine, contact tracing, universal mask wearing, daily testing of 3 percent of the university population and large classes (30 or more students) moved online, suggests a slightly rosier picture, with infections kept below 66 people in 95 percent of simulations.

The model finds that moving classes of more than 30 students online is a very effective measure to avoid infections. That intervention also allows small classes to use large class spaces, like auditoriums, which has a small but measurable impact. Requiring masks is moderately important, researchers found, with random testing and contract tracing having the lowest individual importance for decreasing infection.

[socaldad2002]

@xyz123a

@socaldad2002

One way they can “figure it out” is to allow doubles in a room. Many colleges like Boston College and UCLA, for example, will treat a student and their roommate as a “family” and will take precautions as needed for that “pod”.

Could you link or let me know where you saw this info about BC? I have not seen this part of the plan yet and wondering what else I have missed.

FAQ - Student - Residential Life:

What is BC’s plan to reduce the number of students in each dorm room?

“Boston College will not be placing three students in rooms designed for double occupancy. All other rooms will be targeted at designed capacity.”

https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/sites/reopening-boston-college/students#residential_life

[GKUnion]

The concept of a self contained campus “bubble” is just silly.

My son is an OOS student at a decent state school. He’s going back no matter what. His campus experience has been nothing short of spectacular…and he’ll really miss it. Regardless, he has a job to do, and that’s school.

Will he have fun? Certainly nothing like the previous three semesters.

Will he appreciate being around his three roommates, living in an apartment and making long lasting, non-traditional memories? I’m sure he will.

He’ll have new rules to live by. There will be a new normal. People adapt, and so will he.

His school isn’t altering their start date. They plan to have students on campus. They intend to pursue a hybrid model. I have no control over what they will actually do. I’m not going to worry about things I can’t control.

Going forward, if your child can live off-campus I would recommend it.