How panicked the school is about their bottom line?
Michigan’s plan is closest to my DD’s school and honestly? I think it is “virus theater”. They don’t actually believe every student will self-report symptoms and risk quarantine (and for friends and roommate to potentially be impacted as well). They just want to look like they have a strong mitigation plan (which they don’t and Bowdin actually does). Maybe they are counting on students not reporting to keep their official case count down- I can think of no other reason why they think relying on self-reporting will work.
At D’s college, they will have a dedicated dorm building (on the east campus) for active cases (they will be removed from their “normal” dorm room) and will take their classes online throughout quarantine. Anyone suspected of having the virus and waiting for test results will also be quarantined but in a separate dorm building from the active cases.
One of the savings graces for D’s college is that they recently completed some new residential housing buildings on campus; just completed an off campus apartment building (Blue Light Apartments); have several hotels on campus for overflow housing, and have a huge on campus medical center and hospital.
Will see in a few months if this plan is feasible or if it’s all smoke and mirrors?
Yup. July 22nd for ECU. They want families to move stuff in over so many days (time and date assigned) and then come back to campus the first week of Aug to actually live in the dorm.
@homerdog I am sorry that your family is facing this tough situation, and I really hope your son finds a way to make it work for him.
I think Bowdoin is doing the right thing. Many schools have some type of plan in place that looks really good on paper…but will likely (?) not work as we head into the fall. If things miraculously improve…Bowdoin can always open its doors sooner rather than later.
My k12 school keeps saying “if” we are back in the fall. Today we had to provide input as to how things can improve if we are home again in the fall. We have discussed what the school might look like if we return, and the restrictions that would be put in place (necessarily, I may add) are overwhelming.
It’s really too early for anybody to know what to expect in the fall, but what we are seeing right now is a nightmare that just won’t go away. It’s getting me more and more upset.
Well for one thing, Bowdoin will have maybe 500 kids on campus in the fall so testing them twice a week is feasible, while a school with 25,000 kids on campus that wouldn’t be feasible. Perhaps it’s also a regional thing. I don’t think the state of SC was ever in lockdown mode, while the northeast had the strictest protocols in the nation, so maybe that plays into it as well.
Michigan kids will be tested on arrival and after also btw. Temps will be taken daily etc. That was in the President letter on Monday. That includes every student on or off campus. They can even use the library if they live off campus. Also the scholarship department and financial aid sent out an email that they understand the hardship of COVID-19 and if you need to be reassessed or just need financial help to contact them so they can help.
I am not trying to dig here but I am sorta mystified by Bowdoins response. I know a family for next year with the “perfect” child for admission that might be crossing them off her list. She’s actually looking at many Lacs and others response to this.
Well, Covid prevented my returning to campus a few weeks ago, but unless they’ve changed things, there were both walkable and drivable entrances to other parts of the campus. But you are right, there are a lot of pianos all around campus.
@wisteria100 true. You know it’s interesting for the high school rising seniors. They need to watch how each college on their list does this year with the virus. At one point, I heard a lot of chatter about getting southern schools on the list because they would be more “open”. And now I’m wondering if the schools with more rules might move up on those kids’ lists. Bowdoin’s plan is one of the most conservative and likely doesn’t appeal to many right now. I’ll be curious to see how the plan looks in retrospect when the 2021ers are making their decisions next April.
@Knowsstuff believe me. I get that. Students want to go to school and, in that light, Bowdoin does not look good right now. Michigan’s governor means business. I’m sure she will expect the Wolverines to get it right!
There are some courses where inability to use the library would be a real problem. Perhaps the off-campus kids would need “on-campus friends” who could smuggle out materials for them if need be.
Really, I think some accommodation would have to be made.
@homerdog Here in the northeast it seems some of the southern schools losing favor because of the recent protests and the perception that the south is less accepting of diversity. But it’s true you have to throw in the Covid calculus as well. Will be interesting.
Has the school mapped out how they will be able to temp screen at every entrance on campus for those off-campus as well as the students on campus daily? And where this will be happening? I am thinking if they line them up inside it defeats the purpose but picturing this outside in Nov in Michigan is not feasible either…
Likely what they meant is similar to what UNC system schools are doing- a checklist app where the student is supposed to note yes or no if they have a fever… Which again relies heavily on students self-reporting.
NY, NJ, and CT instituted a 14-day quarantine policy today for people coming from 9 states. Additional criteria for other states regarding making the list. How is this going to affect incoming college students from those states? Will more states be joining these three?
Deep Springs College is almost a bubble already due to its small size and geographic isolation, but has implemented social distancing protocols as described in documents linked from https://www.deepsprings.edu/college-news/covid-19-updates/ .
@homerdog. I really feel for you and your son. I attended a NE LAC (forever ago) and I crossed the days off on a calendar each summer until I could return. Those people were my family. Still are.
My S20 hopes to head off to the opposite of an LAC, and every time I read about The Plan, I get so sad. Boxed meals in his dorm room? Ugh. I am trying to put on a happy face for him, but he doesn’t seem to need it. We’ve tried to describe the likely scenario for him a few times and he just gets frustrated with the conversation and mumbles ‘I am going to college for its intended purpose. To learn stuff.’ He’s an introvert and is sorta into this social distancing thing. But he doesn’t know what he’ll be missing.
Freshmen year of college is a seminal experience for the lucky few who get it. I know he will learn different lessons than those of us who got to go to college outside of a pandemic year. But every parents wants their kids to have what they had, at the very least. And this cohort just won’t.
As he’s my youngest, I was dreading dropping him off at college. Now, I think I’ll need to be medicated. I will be torn between optimistic excitement and jarring guilt that the whole situation is potentially really harmful.
I follow a predominantly student forum for ds19’s school. Already the inevitable questions have started
My response about how there should be no going to social events and how everyone needs to take responsibility to keep the infection numbers low was unsurprisingly down voted.
I was thinking about this today. For those living in dorms, how does this even work? Most staggered move-ins are a week long- maybe 10 days. How does a student set up a dorm with supplies while quarantining (or even get food)?
@homerdog. Yes great Governor in Illinois (our state) and Michigan as it pertains to Covid. The school is just following the state. If things get worse then all online it will be.
But I like what Michigan and other schools are doing. They are allowing the families to have a choice of in person, hybrid or stay home and be online.
So you know what’s going to happen. I can see it now with my son. Sure go to classes he is able to the first few weeks. Then there will be that day when you stayed up to late the night before. Man, wouldn’t it be nice just to log in and stay in the pajamas? He already did this with one class before covid since all his classes are recorded anyway. I am seeing others doing this as well which will further help in decreasing the numbers in the actual classes. The part that their going to have to get used to is coming home and getting in the mindset of going 100 % online to finish the semester.