D’s school revealed that decreasing density in dorms was really tied to the need to decrease density in the shared bathrooms in the dorms, which required some % of doubles to be converted to singles in each dorm. That made more sense to me than just saying ‘everyone needs to be in singles’.
As for some of the schools figuring out like Notre Dame…raise your hand if you think football had something to do with their plans…
Err. Kinda different muscle use and strain on your heart walking upstairs for that many floors. Need to be in much better shape. Probably burning that much more calories also. Doing a step master type of exercise device is much different then a treadmill per se at the same distance.
I agree about shared bathrooms, which is why I will be very surprised if my son’s school allows even half of the students back on campus. Some of the bedrooms are teeny tiny because all suites have a spacious common room, so I actually could see the need to convert doubles to singles for those tiny bedrooms, but that is specific to his school.
I have read of colleges scheduling shower times.
There must be a point for everyone past which the “college experience” is no longer worth the risk and expense.
Some on this thread were complaining about not getting their money’s worth with online instruction.
Shouldn’t paying big bucks for eating takeout in front of one’s laptop, which is what “college experience” increasingly looks like for this fall, seem like throwing good money after bad for them?
Update on my friend’s son leaving for Syracuse football today:
-They will quarantine upon arrival for 4 days - together with 3 others (cohort of 4). The cohort can do outdoor exercise together, the rest of the time has to be in the dorm (on campus apartments with kitchens) alone together
-They will all be tested after 4 days
-All cohorts who tests negative can join with other cohorts who test negative and start full practices
-Any cohorts who test positive have to quarantine in another area for 2 weeks until testing negative, then they can go back into the team population
-Once other students are back on campus (assume they will all do the same thing) they are being asked not to leave campus for the season.
-Football players can’t come home until January (!). There is a game during Christmas apparently
The “big bucks” in the college experience mostly are in the form of tuition, which most colleges are not discounting regardless of instructional method. Assuming the student needs to eat regardless of location, the marginal additional cost, if any, of a school meal plan compared to food consumed at home with likely take out excursions may not be that high, plus of course there is the shopping, preparation and cleanup (of course, some parents are eager to do that). So for us it really is the room cost. Like that credit card commercial says,
dorm cost -$xyz
Managing young adult independent living-priceless
We and our son are willing to take some risk to be on campus…until you start seeing some of the plans. The shortened schedule for the fall was fine…probably a good idea. However, the more he sees with plans the more he’s reconsidering being on-campus this fall…and that’s not even taking financial consideration into consideration (which I’m glad he didn’t). We’re willing to pay for a year online if necessary because it was his best option and where he wanted to go.
I can see upperclassmen wanting to be on or near campus just to be with friends but a freshman that doesn’t know many people is a different story.
Masks and social distancing would be OK but no roommates, prepackaged meals to eat in his dorm room…alone, and scheduled showers are a turn-off. But I think the worst is the hybrid class approach. Alone in your dorm room taking a class online with a classroom and professor that could be a 5 minute walk away. Why bother going on-campus? I’m really disliking the hybrid approach. The worst of both worlds.
Reading some of the student comments on Reddit it seems they hate the hybrid approach too. They feel students should have a choice this fall. Attend classes in-person if they choose (using safety protocols) or stay home and take classes online. Nothing in-between. I’m starting to agree.
Thinking out-loud I imagine any school going this route would do OK. They would know exactly how many they would have on-campus and be able to plan accordingly. Faculty could plan too. They also wouldn’t have to deal with GAP year requests because of Covid. I also think the school would earn goodwill points for being flexible and decisive and not making kids feel like they have to go back or else. Right now it’s just a pile of unknowns.
"Err. Kinda different muscle use and strain on your heart walking upstairs for that many floors. Need to be in much better shape. Probably burning that much more calories also. Doing a step master type of exercise device is much different then a treadmill per se at the same distance. "
You can say that again, @Knowsstuff
My kiddo walked up and down 7 flights of stairs multiple times per day for 4 weeks because the damn elevator broke down and no one came to fix it. She couldn’t wait to get out of the dorm to live on off campus apartment. But yes she was in shape lol.
This sounds like a terrible idea. Essentially, if you are assigned to a cohort with an infected person, you have a good chance of ending up infected, because they quarantine infected people with exposed people. So, whatever the initial rate of infection is, after the 14 days it’ll be about three or four times bigger. Maybe only two times bigger.
Some of those people will have been infected on day 12 or 13. When they’re tested on day 14, they’ll test negative, even though they’re infected and incubating. They’ll be released to the team population to infect everyone else.
This is dumb and it won’t work. Good practice is to isolate infected people, and quarantine exposed but not positive people separately.
Yes! I was also surprised by how quickly that fitness deteriorates even in people who get other kinds of exercise. We lived in a fourth floor walkup for a decade and didn’t think much of the 53 steps (oh who’s counting). And then after moving, maybe a week later, because it sold in about two weeks, I walked up there and it was so hard!
Which is certainly a recommendation for those who are able, to use stairs and stay in shape rather than using a crowded elevator.
Deleted.
Won’t missing Christmas with family be a significant problem for some of the players who observe? Will families push back on that requirement?
ETA: I thought about this because all of the schools moving to the August-Nov (with no leaving campus) schedules, are thus keeping any Jewish kids on campus through all the Jewish holidays, and many have related concerns, like wondering what kinds of religious services will be available on campus.
Most religious services, even at home, will likely be via zoom, and I doubt there will be high holiday meals either, similar to passover unfortunately. 2020 will be the year that religious gatherings took a back seat :(.
Today is one of the those days I dont feel good about things. A summer camp tested all the counselors before they arrived and all the campers, yet a counselor ended up with Covid. now two sleepaway camps are closing after being open maybe one week. So all it takes is one. So they test everyone upon arrival, and they are negative, but they can be positive days later. Unless they come up with a test that can show “pre covid” (aka you just got the virus,) testing is not going to stop the spread, and neither will all these 14 day quarantines. At some point we need to figure out how to live with this virus and reduce deaths if we want to see on campus experiences survive. Will see if these record cases of young people in Florida and Texas cause increased deaths or not . though likely with anyone they passed it to, but what will we see from this 20-35 year old crowd.
My D is constantly hanging out with the same friends while she is home, but I dont know where they have all been. next week she works at a camp. She could have been exposed this week hanging with these few friends, ,yet this concept is going over her head. Telling her she needed to stay home this week and quarantine. got us into a big fight. She says (but I am only hanging with the same 4/5 people). . sigh. I dont want to get her in trouble but I dont like this based on her job next week. also doesnt bode well for on campus experiences.
sigh sigh sigh. I will send my kids to their off campus apartments in the fall, as even online classes there is better than here, but maybe 2021 will be a better year. 
This is D1 football… they are OK with it 
Carleton to announce final plans on 7/10 with a plan to have “majority” back. That does not sound like all.
Dear Carleton Students,
Following months of research and discussion by working groups and committees and engagement with public health experts, the College is focusing on a preferred direction that would enable us to bring the majority of you back to campus in the fall, while others continue their instruction online. This concept is now being vetted through the campus governance process. Though there remain many decisions to be made leading up to a formal announcement by July 10, we have been careful and thorough in our evaluation and are confident that we will settle upon a wise path forward.
Faculty are currently working on developing curricular plans for the coming academic year that will be essential in defining the path ahead. Plans related to housing, dining, testing, cleaning, physical distancing expectations, campus visitors, travel, and other important issues are being thoroughly evaluated at this time. While we don’t have additional information to share now, operational details will be shared with relevant governance bodies in the coming days, and our proposed plan of action will be carefully reviewed by the College Council before final approval is sought from the Board of Trustees.
We remain focused on the health and safety of our community, as well as our strength in providing an exceptional residential liberal arts experience for you, as we define what a return to campus looks like for students, faculty, and staff. Many thanks for your continued enthusiasm for a Carleton education as we embrace the year ahead with creativity and a commitment to our collective wellbeing.
I remain grateful for your patience.
@suzyQ7 Was there a plan for how they are getting food/groceries?
Testing will reduce the spread, if we isolate the infected person and separately quarantine the exposed people. We haven’t got a different disease in the United States than they have in Asia.
If we’re casting about trying to figure out what to do, maybe we should look around at all the countries around the world that managed to reduce daily infections to a small number, instead of ignoring everyone else’s experience in order to move to a brave new world of infection and death.
Our country is not going to figure this out. Pence just went on tv and told a reporter that it’s ok for them to have giant gatherings because it’s their constitutional right. She pointed out that those rallies are in absolute contradiction to what Fauci said at the podium ten minutes before. Pence just said “constitutional right!”
so, good luck. Those other countries sucked it up big time. We are a much larger country with no national leadership on this. I did hear that Florida (or maybe just Miami?) will start giving tickets to people not wearing masks - first time warning, second time $50, third time $150. Will people even pay the fines? If it’s a large group, there’s no way they can find anyone.
Those vaccines had better hurry up.
@wisteria100 wrote:
So, my kindergarten math tells me that two sets of bunk beds equal four people. So, maybe converting a “quad” to a “double” simply means taking one set of bunk beds and moving it into the living/study room? Not sure that qualifies as de-densifying, but okay. TBH, I think Hamilton is making good use of the fact that it is the most isolated of all the NESCACs; it is surrounded by farmland and woods, a hike even to its one stop-light town. No question in my mind that it is a true bubble.
I’m sorry - it seems very stressful to manage that with your daughter, and hard to figure it out in terms of which risks will matter for the job etc. Regarding the holidays - I think you’re right. I think it will be extra hard for kids to be isolated with their boxed meals attending a Zoom high holiday service. At least for most kids, Passover was with immediate family though not extended family or synagogue services.