Colleges will be in person this fall and here is why!
Many D1 colleges depend on football revenue (attendance, TV contacts, misc) to fund the other school sports, pay faculty and sometimes help the school balance the books.
College football teams need players. Players are students. Can’t let only football players return, but not regular students.
So school surviving = football money = games = players = students = Fall in person at D1 FBS schools.
Science be damned.
@Mwfan1921 - I have to admit I do see K-12 opening( but late) for a couple of reasons, one 95% of them are public and they are paid for w taxes ,if they or open or not, they really can not go out of business and folks can not save money by not sending their kids there, most are very local so no 5th graders coming in from another state for example. If a kid gets sick a parent or a parent/s friend can get them in 30 minutes, they are not staying in the school for days waiting for a plane reservation or a parent to go across the country to get them.But mostly bc parents need childcare if they go back to work, college kids do not so they can stay home w very little issues from a society 's point of view. Plenty of adults leave college campus every day , well when classes are in session on campus at least. My daughter college had 15,000 kids living on campus in dorms, plus thousands more support staff, bus drivers, caf workers and last but not least teachers, so same as K-12. Also K-12 do not party at school 
so that helps. So basically dorms are k-12 plus living at the school, a school that can get sued if something goes wrong, and yes you can sue your local school district but it can not go out of business. Going to college is a luxury , living on campus is a double luxury , most folks in the US do not view K-12 a luxury . And I would guess the average dorm has way less than 150 sq feet person but I could be wrong, my daughters certainly did not and the ones I have seen for DS20 do not.
Wait. You guys are going to let your kids hang out with a bunch of friends and go camping? We are under stay at home orders until May 30. Our kids haven’t seen friends for five or six weeks and will not until that is lifted. I thought most states under those orders as well. It’s going to be a while before young people can be hanging out.
Judging by your last line, I assume you’re joking. I will say, a family member is a basketball coach at an East Coast university. Informally, he’s been told there will be no basketball practice in the fall semester even if the school will reopen its campus. My assumption is that if there’s no basketball practice, there won’t be any football.
@katliamom, Yes, I’m being sarcastic and cynical. But I’m pretty sure there is some jr. associate at a McKinsey type consulting firm tasked with creating a fancy version of it and inserting slides into the presentation deck for the committees and task forces to consider.
We are under a stay at home order and I see kids hanging out together now. The other night I went to pick up burritos. Two guys eating together in a Jeep parked next to me. I figured they were brothers, but then I saw they call two girls over who were walking down the street. The girls looked to be the same age, but didn’t look alike (assuming not sisters). So now you have 4 kids talking in a parking lot.
Not a mask in sight.
Our city golf courses opened for play this week. I think a lot of kids will develop an interest in golf
Most college athletic programs lose money. Even when football (and/or men’s basketball) makes money, the cost of all of the other sports results in a net loss for most colleges. So if all intercollegiate sports are cancelled, it would be a net financial gain for most colleges.
Same here. Plus lots of kids meeting at parks and playgrounds. It is 78 degrees and sunny. Kids of all ages go outside. I am sure they are told to distance, but that is hard to enforce.
Colleges won’t make money by not having sports next year. They still have the scholarships, the facilities to maintain, the coaches to pay.
College sports are not just a big money pit. The only value to the school is not how much the programs bring in or how much they cost, but alumni donations, the good will the sports teams bring, the summer programs they run. If sports weren’t valuable to schools, they’d be dropped. Very very few schools have no sports.
@homerdog I can speak for my family that until restrictions are lifted in my state my DD will be staying home. That choice is not only due to concerns for our own family but wanting to limit the chance we spread the virus unknowingly. I think of those people dying alone in the hospital with no family to hold their hand and my heart just breaks.
However, we know many who do not see it that way. Today a friend posted FB pictures of kids all dressed up for prom that was canceled (and nowhere close to 6 feet apart). It is not about the risk to my family for us- but the risk to others, many who have no choice but to work, get their own groceries, etc- not everyone can pay for delivery service.
I worry a lot about the custodial staff of these high-density dorms in the coming months if schools open- it’s a catch 22 because I hate for them to be out of work but I also worry about their safety. Hopefully, by then all staff will have PPE.
College sports is as exactly as @twoinanddone states. However it’s even more important to some as part of the recruiting and branding. The experience and social aspects of college sports is a real plus for many schools in the admission battles. The revenue from applications, the quality of their class and foundation for reliable tuition dollars is part of the equation. You don’t have to be a powerhouse but it helps. Look at Villanova recruiting after some basketball success, Syracuse has this in the 80s and Georgetown hoops success in the late 20th century was important in the schools move towards the hpysm level over the past 20 years. Never mind the football powers and Notre dame leveraging football for the greater good of the school overall. The allure is important to many students and alums.
The funds from alumni is certainly impacted by the ongoing connection and pride they feel towards the alma mater watching them compete on television from all corners of the world.
The Harvard Yale football or “The Game” is a fundraising boon for them. Go to a football game at the big house in Ann Arbor and it’s like alumni weekend with class year tents and bands playing - it’s a phenomenon that is bigger than its operating budgets.
Imho of course.
Well stay at home means exactly that. Those kids should not be seeing friends. None of our kids’ friends are breaking that rule. We haven’t even seen my brother in law and his family who live five blocks away and have middle school kids. Our kids would love to see friends or their little cousins but we aren’t supposed to be doing that. If my BIL goes to the grocery store and catches the virus and I let our kids see their cousins then we will likely all get sick here. I can’t believe parents let their kids go out with friends!
Parks and playgrounds are closed here. All kinds of caution tape wrapped all around playground equipment.
@homerdog how is your s22 enjoying online classes. My d22 is really not enjoying it and doesn’t believe I should pay tuition 25k per semester in the fall if it is remote learning. Finals start in a week and she feels it’s more work and less enriching (my words to describe what she is telling us)
Not unless they cancel the scholarships and tell the kids that they have to pay sticker, or leave the school, and furlough all the coaches, trainers and other athletic department staff. (Altho I’m guessing some of the coaches have no-cut contracts, so they get paid anyway.)
Since there is a vaccine for flu and also a treatment… and mono is never deadly, it is really a very different situation.
Once the stay at home orders are lifted, which will certainly happen before the summer, then yes they will see friends. Doing that outdoors would be less risky, so if they want to camp with friends in the summer (they have an individual backpacking tent anyway) then that’s fine with me. Even before that, assuming travel is allowed, some of our family will probably go backpacking in May.
My kids are likely to head back to their college towns at some point this summer anyway, they will be back there in the fall (one has an apartment lease, the other is in a state where I’ve no doubt colleges will be open) and I don’t think going early will make a meaningful difference to that. In fact I think they will be better prepared and safer if they are not arriving at the same time as everyone else, and it certainly reduces the level of risk for us the parents if they aren’t spending time with us after they’ve started to mix with their friends.
Thinking more broadly, I’m not sure why people would panic about the level of risk to their kids (assuming no serious underlying risk factors) even if they did catch the virus. Yes there is a question of limiting spread, which means testing, treatment and behaving responsibly. That’s a given for adults and college kids alike since we are certainly not staying locked up for the next 2+ years until everyone is vaccinated.
But put this in the context of our experiences and risk tolerance growing up 30+ years ago. How many people knew someone in their high school that died in a car accident? We were told to be careful, not to avoid driving completely. I knew people in college who died in climbing accidents (and got into situations myself that could have ended very badly). It seems quite likely that more female students will be murdered during my D’s time at her college (two in two years so far) than will die from COVID-19, given the reported death rates in her age group.
I tell my kids to be careful and behave responsibly and I trust them to do that and to appropriately judge the risks that they are taking. However if for example they go climbing (which my D does), I know they could die, but I won’t forbid (or even discourage) them from going.
The high school one of my kid’s attends has had several virus cases. The teens are all fine. One of the colleges attended by another kid has had virus cases on campus as well, from students who remained on campus. None were serious. At some point we are going to have to accept that people around us will be getting this virus and we will likely be exposed as well (as apparently a good part of Manhattan has been) if we don’t want to spend the next few years hiding at home.
Real conversation with my D last night, re: returning to school in the fall…
Me: Would you wear a mask, if they require it?
D : Yes (no hesitation)
Me: Even in the dorm, when you’re hanging out with friends?
D : Yes (still no hesitation)
Me: What about to block (pre-game frat party)?
D : I’d probably buy a cute mask for block.
Me: What if no one else is wearing a mask at block?
D : Then I’d probably take it off.
My kids have been great about not going out with friends. They have each other, so that helps. They mostly do their own things separately, they’re both still doing online classes, but occasionally they’ll play some board games or just go for a drive. And once every 2-3 weeks, they do a Target run to get some necessities that we can’t order online. They wear masks and we have a protocol to follow with hand sanitizer and stuff.
D20 faced a dilemma when some of her friends wanted to get together for someone’s birthday. She struggled with letting her friends down, but decided to stay home and facetime instead, and I think the others ended up doing the same.
Wasn’t sure if this had been posted. Interesting comments from some college administrators. Such stressful time for them (and everyone).
I was struck by the Macalester president who said he thought if classes weren’t in person up to 25% of students might bail. I wonder how he came up with that number.
@homerdog We are under stay-at-home orders and not beginning reopening until May 8 here, but that hasn’t stopped most of my high school acquaintances. Most of my high school acquaintances have been partying at each other’s houses and getting drunk. And many of them are hanging out together and just watching television and stuff. It’s illegal, but they’re doing it.