We have some apartments with students. Four students, one bathroom. If we were to find that they were cramming 6 or 8 in one apartment, we would probably have to act on that.
Sarah Lawrence has just weighed in.
https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/status/covid/
They say that they will let students know by July 1 - about fall situation.
@Empireapple If you’re quoting someone else, and you can’t figure out the quote feature, please at least put quote marks around the quotes and tell us who said them. The way you format now is confusing.
2twogirls 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.
With all due respect this area of NY that you describe is not upstate. To those of us truly upstate what you describe is “just outside the city.” The real upstate is not commutable to NYC.
School could have been closed earlier. Children can stay home like snow days while faculty figures out how they will deliver remote learning. I agree, the metro area with surrounding states must be defined. That area needs to be treated differently.
For those traveling an easy way to deal with the gas pumps is to carry the plastic bags when you get veggies at the store in your car. Use them with your whole hand inside to touch the pump and pinned. Carrying a roll of paper towels in your cart too can help but a little more risky that it will slip off your hand. Most pumps have garbage right there for when you are finished.
I am familiar with NYS. I lived in 4 of the boroughs, both counties on Long Island, the northern suburbs, and upstate NY.
I know people who commute from the Binghamton area to NYC every day. I also know people who commute from a farther distance than Binghamton…further up…not 5 days a week, but at least 3 days.
Somebody in my neighborhood was a flight attendant. She left for LaGuardia at 4 am, made the round trip flight to Texas, and was home for the bus.
FYI …NYC schools were closed for students beginning March 16. Same as NJ (last day was Friday the 13th). The 16-20 were teacher training days, and on the 20th the city distributed laptops etc.
When Cuomo says NY Tough, he’s not kidding. People around here are use to having horrible commutes.
Now back to the topic…
Or the commutable local/regional university instead of the flagship that would require being a residential student.
“Closer to home” could also be a larger factor for those choosing between private colleges.
I don’t think anyone is pushing or pulling. Every college is doing the best they can, communicate as much as they can, and let the chips fall where they may.
This past school year DS19 was in a dorm in a double room with ensuite washroom. This coming year he’ll be sharing an off campus house with 7 other students. The density will be much higher.
We’ve just been notified that SDSU will not enforce its on campus housing policy for freshman and sophomores, apparently in an effort to de-densify their on campus housing.
HYPMS will get their classes filled, but for mid-tier privates and publics reliant on OOS money, this spells serious trouble.
It is perhaps telling that even Vandy (a top 15 university) felt compelled to admit about 40% more RD applicants this year (2,907 in 2020 vs 2,088 in 2019), yet MIT’s total admissions remained virtually unchanged (1,457 in 2020 vs 1,427 in 2019).
SDSU is one of the few more residential CSUs, with 71% of frosh living in campus housing. It also normally required living in campus housing for frosh and soph students who were not from the local area, and did not have one of the exemptions listed at https://housing.sdsu.edu/campus_living/exemption_request.aspx (e.g. non-traditional students, disability accommodations, etc.).
Note that some of the other more residential CSUs are in less populated areas (CPSLO, HSU, CSUC); their “local areas” in sparsely populated parts of the state include areas that would be unreasonably long commutes from them.
I think students still want a residential experience of some kind. And, their older parents may not want them commuting - mingling - and then coming home to share a dinner table.
The idea of living in an off campus apartment, low density with private bathroom and cooking facilities, hence being away from home and get at least part of the experience will be compelling. Couple that with the ability to come home or to have assistance close by incase of a COVID or other issue is and I think kids will be pushing for the option.
Add to the above the chance that colleges may say ‘hey all, it’s January you now need to be here’ and it would be beneficial to be already settled close by.
I know. SDSU is our local directional. The sophomore on campus requirement was implemented fairly recently as the mini-dorm problem in the surrounding community was worsening. But, anyway, as I said, SDSU is not going to enforce these on-campus living requirements this year, even for honors students.
@TheVulcan whoa. I’m totally having D21 apply to Vandy. Lol.
The campuses and dorms will be open in the fall. I don’t know what the best management practices will be, but the schools will make it happen. If they don’t their financial situation is dire.
My state’s flagship is budgeting a $200 million drop in revenue if the campus and dorms aren’t open in the fall. That’s in addition to the losses in OOS tuition and the increased expenses for COVID-19. They will survive losses like that, but the university won’t be the same.
If they don’t open in the fall Harvard, Stanford, and MIT will be bumped about dipping into their endowment, mid sized privates will be selling real estate, smaller privates will just close.
Faced with numbers like that schools will focus on getting through this in one piece without too much long term damage. They won’t worry about alumni donations being down 20 years from now for example.
As parents we need to decide whether the school’s plan is good enough to handle the virus, and what we will do if our child becomes sick. Even if the school promises to set up an infirmary we need to understand who will pay for their stay. Currently it doesn’t look like our insurance would cover that.
If our children are going to school for experiences we need to understand if those will continue. Most ECs will be delayed, and might not come back. Most support services are going to see cuts.
That is before the universities pay for the skyrocketing health insurance costs for their employees. We expect our premium to increase a minimum of 40%.
I think it’s starting to feel the tide is shirting towards school in the fall being more likely in a lot of areas.
The articles starting to be released by school administrators as trial balloons.
Dr Fauci surprising and positive comments about Remdesivir today.
WHO leader saying Sweden should be the model for countries and without lockdowns.
Just my gut feeling.
It could turn very quickly of course.
My son will have worked on an ambulance for 6 weeks by the time he comes home from school…and rolls right through NY. I’m not worried. He’s not worried.
D17 attends a small residential liberal arts college. It’s interesting to hear some of you say that small colleges might be better suited to social distancing. That gives me some hope. As of now, as you would expect, they are looking into options to move to in person and reduce housing and class density, but there are so many unknowns that they cannot commit to anything yet.
She and her friends are talking about renting an apartment together if dorms are closed and everyone is doing online school. They are socially responsible and would self quarantine themselves for two weeks if that was necessary, so if this gives them a chance to spend their senior year together, we are for it. It also depends on the cost. As it is, there’s no way to do all the things she was planning to do while following social distancing, including research, but I don’t see any point in taking a leave of absence when other opportunities will also be limited.
^Many relatively small residential colleges seem to be planning the return to on-campus instructions mixed with some online instructions in the fall. These colleges are unlikely to close their dorms but would reconfigure on-campus housing and utilize some off-campus facilities if necessary. Planning doesn’t mean they’re any closer to a decision on the fall term, but these colleges do stand a better chance returning to in-person classes.
In case off-campus facilities are utilized, cost is likely to stay the same or lower. Colleges probably would rent these apartments themselves and “sublease” to their students to ensure proper social distancing.