This is a reason to opt for a college that guarantees housing.
@momzilla2D I wouldn’t want to get to riled up about housing yet but I agree that could be an issue. Hopefully, colleges will be upfront asap about that. I couldn’t believe those UCs came out and said kids might not get housing. Well, they might want to give their students a decision date on that asap. We are in the midwest and I know two kids headed to UCLA and I’m sure they didn’t think they’d have to find an apartment. How does one even do that when you don’t know the neighborhood and can’t get on an airplane to find housing? And your new freshman lives alone in an apartment? I say gap year time on that.
Maybe your D can call her school and ask if there’s going to be housing changes. If the sorority isn’t “campus housing” maybe they aren’t the decision maker on that? Our niece at UIUC lives in her sorority and 30 girls sleep in the same attic space!!!
It seems at some level colleges will have to define a ‘family’ unit or ‘home’ concept, where social distancing is not required. Not sure if that’s a sorority house, or a suite, or a dorm floor, etc., but something to consider.
Also, all of the procedures and policies will be variable, based on the level of community spread of the virus.
I live in NY and work in a neighboring state. It is impossible to close NY early when neighboring states are still open. As noted above we need to treat this as a region.
NYC schools didn’t close until March 19. Should they have closed earlier? IMO, yes…but they couldn’t. Between teacher training, getting technology out to students homes who otherwise have none, etc…it’s a major undertaking. Very time consuming. Closing the schools was a process…and while the process probably should have started a week earlier…it’s not an easy decision for a district like this…too many layers…and too much travel between states. NYC is really a city like no other.
Roads remained open. Yes …upstate NY has miles and miles of cows and open space…very rural…but many of these people commute to essential jobs in NYC. I know 3 right off the top of my head who commute to NYC close to 6 hours per day. He had to close the state other than for essential business. I have no doubt that he will open it safely and methodically.
There are plenty of people all over NY who are not working…not just upstate.
Right now I trust the scientists, but my trust in the federal gov is essentially zero.
Colleges can’t arbitrarily deny housing to their students. De-densification of their dorms have to be on a voluntary basis. Some students may take a leave of absence. Some may choose to stay home and take classes online. Some may even be incentivised to do so. Colleges may also secure nearby hotel/motel rooms for de-densification and/or contingent isolation purposes.
Maybe not arbitrarily but certainly colleges can - and have - changed housing rules on short or almost no notice. Several years ago a number of UC’s went from double to triple occupancy in the dorms with no notice. UCD was so over- crowded in 2010 that they converted common areas into sleeping areas - sometimes housing up to 5 students in these new ‘rooms’.
Colleges are certainly within their rights to deny triples or quads. They are certainly within their rights to reduce density. And they can certainly offer whatever housing is available on a first to commit, first to be guaranteed a spot basis.
I you want to plan and have control over your students environment then secure off campus housing very early in the process. A more ‘normal’ apartment or shared condo environment is healthier than a dorm even in normal times.
@1NJParent Right. But who is going to organize all of that? When are students told their living arrangement needs to change and who figures out how to change it? If in a triple, which one of the three has to leave and find other housing?
Many colleges have already assigned housing for next year for upperclassman. They can’t reduce density without arbitrarily telling one person they can stay, and the next that they can’t. And if you are the unlucky one that gets kicked out, how do you find housing now when you aren’t in your college town? Blindly hunting over the internet?I just can’t see this happening.
What if colleges freeze all undergraduate and graduate admission for the 2021-22 school year?
If social distancing measures require a say 50% reduction of in person service capacity, dorms, lectures and other classes, then of the current students who don’t want to go online offer up to half of them gap years then give them the would have been next years students on campus places.
That would prioritise those students who didn’t know that their would be a pandemic when they applied last fall.
@homerdog Colleges could survey their students and ask for their preferences as a first step (perhaps offering some incentives for students to take the remote learning option). If further de-densification is still needed, colleges could try to secure nearby hotel/motel rooms or other type of off-campus housing to meet their goals. Colleges in densely populated areas will likely be at a disadvantage as they may not be able to achieve those goals, however.
I think you can surmise from the fact that the announcement is coming out this week that the instate yield at the UCs is likely to be up substantially (because they are relatively close to home and cheap for instate students) and they are concerned about too many students accepting.
Interesting from the University of Florida:
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/330247-uf-considers-reopening-for-the-fall-semester?fbclid=IwAR0Iz7AyQPGnOUhUvcHA9YLJ-ZQS7TJACSG8nEi3sXk9spBby2FiiFW5h4Y
That’s true for most of the Cal States and the UCs for that matter, as they tend to be located in urban or high cost suburban locations.
This is gonna be extremely difficult for first gen - low income students, which is what UC and Cal State target in admissions, as the upper income can afford an off campus apartment.
@Twoin18 , yes, I too think the CA kids will be more likely to stay in state. We are isolated from the rest of the country, for the most part.
It’s possible that the international students, who are forced to do distance learning due to travel restrictions, will balance it out. That is, if they are still coming at all, but the US college system is pretty attractive to a lot of international students. It will be interesting to see what happens there.
UCs don’t do gap years. If you skip the fall, you have to reapply.
(From a value standpoint, I cannot understand paying OOS rates for a UC outside of a few specialized programs.)
UC Campus housing is only for freshmen. The new students will have to apply for student housing in May, by June they should know if they got the housing offer or not (using lottery system). If the students don’t get the offer, they should know by then and should be looking for off campus housing. Normal year, most freshman will a housing offer of some sort if they applied. This year it won’t be guaranteed because they lose the triple occupancy spots.
Freshmen with no campus housing offer will have to manage the living arrangement on their own, with the help of their family, just like their upper classmen.
This CA school is opening up next month (in a limited way):
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/California-maritime-academy-gets-OK-to-start-15231661.php
“…each student will have their own room, food delivered to dorms and medical screenings. Social distancing will be practiced during classes and when that’s not possible, students will wear protective gear…”
Not true. Some campuses do offer multiple years of on campus housing. And of course, they [used to] guarantee housing for the first year of transfers.
@Nhatrang well, sorry, but that’s a joke if you’re someone from our high school in the Chicago area and then need to find an apartment near a UC campus with no way to fly out there or find a roommate. UCs are going to lose some full pay OOS families on this one.
Sure, but only guaranteed for freshmen.
I should also add that there are other properties that are considered campus housing but they aren’t managed by the school, upper classmen can apply for those as well.
There are a lot of details and exceptions I just didn’t think to share in the context of homerdog’s question (who organized…). My kid is a freshman at Cal now, her on-campus housing for the Fall was rejected and we just signed a lease on an off campus apartment.
The point is that this year, some freshmen have to find the alternative living on their own.