Those that want to get educated, will get educated.
In fact, they will have the extra competitive advantage over those that wallow in self-pity.
“Obviously no one wants his or her student to be home in the fall.”
That’s definitely not true, of course if you can’t afford college anymore, your student is going to be home, or close to home. From Forbes:
"As many as a fifth of students who had been planning to start college in the fall may not attend, according to a new survey. The reason: diminished family finances because of the COVID-19 pandemic.:
Maybe everyone wants the choice to be able to send their kid for a residential experience, but that’s not how it works. Only 12% of kids live on campus rest are at home or off campus. Now c/c focuses more on the 12%, but as we know that’s not what’s really happening out there.
@theloniusmonk sorry, I thought it was obvious I was addressing the folks I’ve been having a discussion with in this thread for three months.
To rephrase, it seems most of us here in this discussion would prefer our students go to campus.
So, if you cannot deliver on the community aspect, why risk having all kids back on campus? Just a month ago I thought kids could go back and still have club meetings and go to the gym and have friends in their rooms to hang out. Now it’s looking like that’s not a thing at any size school. Without that sort of interaction, LACs lose their sparkle. Why ask everyone to come back and pay room and board and not get any of the good extra stuff?
@homerdog — this is true at all residential colleges and universities, not just LACs. Why would LACs lose their sparkle more than larger universities?
@TheVulcan I would add to your statement “ those who can afford to get educated”.
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We’ve made and exit strategy a requirement for our D. Whether it’s from school or renting an apartment somewhere fun. How will you get home if the poop hits the fan?
Yes I’d like my d to get an antibody test this summer.
Well, yes, but we are largely talking about fairly privileged kids here on CC whose choice is between wisely using their time while staying home in their bedroom and throwing their hands up helplessly.
I get that some specialties absolutely require in-person presence to learn, but most don’t. I get that on-campus experience can be invaluable. But imagine if the same thing happened twenty years ago, before the broadband internet and everything it enabled.
I get all the complains. I got my own, believe me.
But once you start taking your own complains too much to heart, you risk sabotaging the incredible opportunities still right in front of you.
Massachusetts released a prelim opening plan for K-12. A start date was not indicated and it could end up being a remote fall, but if it is in person, masks required for all over 5 yrs and forward facing desks a minimum of 3 ft apart.
The million dollar question will be what is the acceptable level of virus spread and illness for each college community before they “shut things down”?
From Duke today:
“While the state of North Carolina has recorded a high level of positive COVID-19 cases, we are in regular contact with public health officials and experts from the Duke School of Medicine and Duke Health System and remain confident that our plan continues to protect health and safety while facilitating the resumption of teaching, residential life, research and health care services, among other things.”
Very easy to get it now - We just did for me and DD from Labcorp. Both negative 
I’m not sure that that is not a thing at any size school. Maybe it won’t be, but my son’s school hasn’t said that yet. He is living off campus so they will likely have friends over to their apartment. His building has a gym, though it not as extensive as the big gym on campus. Gyms are now open In the city where he attends school, so if my son can’t go to the campus one, he will go to the one downstairs. His building has no connection to the school - not everyone who lives there are students - so the gym will open or not based on city and county guidelines.
For colleges that have announced plans to go back with strict restrictions, wondering if things go ok for the first month or so will they make restrictions sort of like states do with moving from phase 1 to 2 to 3.
Like if they are not seeing infections would they go for example from allowing small gatherings distanced to increase in size.
Why aren’t schools asking all students to be tested now. If 25 percent or some number have already have been infected there’s a base case for distributing this group to maximize housing. Or to reduce the potential numbers of students in the models to need iso or hospital care. Maybe half the kids at some schools already were exposed. That changes everything.
If they are using experts wouldn’t you want the best data possible.
We received our Fall 2020 invoice from Elon and the e-mail contained some interesting disclaimers, including the right to increase tuition and room/board - Yikes.
The amount for tuition ad fees for the 2020-2021 academic year has been set regardless of the method of instruction and will not be refunded in the event instruction occurs remotely for any part of the 2020-2021 academic year.
Elon University reserves the right to add or drop programs and courses, to institute new requirements when such changes are desirable and to change the calendar that has been published. Unless otherwise indicated, such changes will be applicable to all students enrolled at the time the change is adopted as well as to all students who re-enroll after a period of absence. Every effort will be made to minimize the inconvenience such changes might create for students. Elon University reserves the right to increase overall tuition, cost per credit, education fees, and room and board charges on a semester basis.
Some schools may ask for antibody testing, but the reality is we don’t know much about what having sars-cov-2 antibodies means IRL.
For example, we don’t know how long antibodies last, or to the extent they offer protection from getting covid-19 again, plus we know the virus is mutating.
So knowing that someone has antibodies at X point in time wouldn’t change housing assignments or density, or certain other recommendations at this point.
I was not referring to your privileged child nor the competitive edge it will give him to remain immersed in education ,@TheVulcan. There are millions of children not so privileged, and public policy regarding resumption of schooling should be made with them in mind.
So perhaps this could be something to discuss with some of the privileged CC kids that reportedly are having great difficulty accepting their uniquely challenging circumstances in the midst of the global catastrophe.
The major hospital systems in Ohio are not administering any antibody tests because they don’t trust the results. Maybe the medial professionals advising the colleges are discouraging the use of antibody tests as well.
Not every student is going to be totally at sea without college sponsored events. If they’re an artist, they will continue to do art; if, they are good cooks, now is the perfect time to use those meal plan points at the campus grocery store (if there is one) for healthy eating at home; guitarists, violinists, and keybboard players are still going to find ways to make music. There is life without big crowds.