@chemAM- while you make some good points in 99% of the cases w kids in college it is the parents money sending their kids to school and it is a big deal for a parent not to be able to get their kid if the schools shuts down, again I do not expect you to get this , as you say your not a parent. We have taken schools off our list because they were not within a ten hour drive if schools closed down again.
Ok so U of C schools may or may not guarantee housing and I am sure there are others as well. So I should deposit by Friday , not knowing if school will be on line or not and if my kid will or will not have a bed on campus, but god forbid I debate double deposit to see how things shake out, got it.
One thing I have not seen a lot of push back on here is , if your going to a OOS public, could you make the argument , online in the fall give me In state tuition?
We are OOS at a UCB. Just never thought or wanted a reduced tuition. I know it isn’t a charity, but they are not in the best financial shape, I would rather pay. I worry for them lol. The bottom line is that my kiddo wouldn’t get a better education elsewhere at another private school (that she would want to attend) with the same or higher cost. So I don’t understand the bitterness with “OOS public” school people. I just look at it as a great school, period. The cost is what it is.
I’m expecting every college’s yield to be way down, particularly colleges that typically have a lot of students from far out of state. (Here I don’t mean students from New Jersey attending school in Pennsylvania, but rather, e.g. students from Texas attending school in Pennsylvania.) Students’ instate public safeties are going to be looking a lot more attractive to parents: close by, cheaper. LACs, which were already in a world of hurt, will be in more of a world of hurt and will start folding like lawn chairs.
My son goes to college in Michigan, and we live in California. There is no way I’d be sending a freshman to a college in the Midwest this year.
Let me add that no one’s even asked faculty if they’re willing to show up on campus and teach. Short of medical miracles, I won’t be there. My job’s very nice, but I’m not willing to risk my life to teach your kid. Don’t forget, too, that while they might be able to strongarm some tenured faculty into teaching, adjuncts and TAs still do most of the actual classroom teaching, and the budgets won’t be there to dangle enticements. Nobody can make an underpaid adjunct sign on to remote-and-in-person teach, basically twice the work, while risking their lives.
The president of Rice sent an email to parents today thanking them for supporting their kids through this time and he said they would have some preliminary communications regarding the fall by the end of next week. He said they are “cautiously optimistic” about opening campus to students in the fall and that they are trying to resolve how to “best balance the imperative for safety while maintaining the great college experience your children have enjoyed and look forward to returning to.”
Does anyone know what we can expect to see in terms of early decision statistics this fall for all the seniors (current juniors) applying? Will it be more competitive or less competitive for top schools like duke, ivies, etc?
Yes. I think this is the dilemma that colleges find themselves in. The campuses will be technically open, but there won’t be students there (as the dorm problem, barring some kind of vaccine/treatment, does not have a practical solution). Even if there is some kind of medical breakthrough, I’d still expect colleges to take a hit on international students. I’m afraid that the U.S. isn’t that attractive of a destination at the moment.
So, as in many sectors of the economy, I think there will be some contraction because of the pandemic.
Yes. This is the challenge. Face-to-face teaching has risk for professors, adjuncts and TAs. Possibly you could address this with screens or something in big lecture halls, but all the small class and office meetings could not be done with social distancing. And this is a critical element of the experience, in my opinion.
So, broadly, I think it might suck a little this fall. There won’t be football, normal dorm life or parties. I don’t see how a substantial amount of face-to-face teaching could occur. My optimistic view is that we take our medicine this fall, and things start to become more normal in the winter and spring.
@wtrfll Probably somewhat less competitive (but still very competitive) for top schools, because some people who would’ve been interested in attending those schools that live far away will be afraid of being far away from home in the event that someone in their family (including themselves) get sick, so more will opt to stay closer to home.
@dietz199 Things are still the same at UCSB. In fact, housing is guaranteed for all four years as long as you lived in campus housing the previous year and applied within the proper timeframe. Many students do move into IV and lose that guarantee but there is a substantial amount that are still living in university housing all the way to their senior year.
There is no way that UCSB will be able to handle having everyone in doubles let alone singles. Most freshmen, and a good amount of upperclassmen, are put into triples due to a lack of space. There is simply not enough room to put everyone into doubles let alone singles.
But interestingly, we have heard nothing from our administration for a few weeks. Our last communication was only that Session A for summer would be remote but Session B was still planned for in-person which is obviously not going to happen.
There will be fewer applicants this fall:
- Fewer international applicants due to travel, visa restrictions and other considerations including monetary consideration.
- Fewer domestic applicants due to travel, economic considerations and demographics.
But possibly fewer available spots as well:
- Need to de-densify campuses.
- Accommodation for larger than usual number of students who take a gap year this year.
Economics will play a larger role as well. After the 2018 financial crisis, the previously well-endowed boarding school Exeter changed its admission policy from need-blind to need-aware. A similar outcome is conceivable with some elite colleges. They’re among the schools that offer ED (rather than EA). Full-pay ED applicants may become even more appealing to these schools.
I’m assuming that more than a few faculty members need money to live on and will be reluctant to tap savings/retirement in order to take a semester off, not to mention benefits like medical insurance. They won’t have a lot of options.
Here is Georgia, the State is about to fully open up tomorrow (Insane!) and I would not be surprised that all the schools will open up for business this Fall. The biggest sources of revenue (outside of sports) are the incoming Freshman and I have a feeling that they will find a way to bring them in even if there is a delay. All the Schools are hurting and based on the information out there, many of these schools are expecting a huge fallout if they continue to offer virtual learning.
An interesting fact is how S20 received numerous personal postcards, emails, and finally a phone call from the UGA admissions officer checking to see if he was going to enroll at the University. The University of Minnesota did the same thing. He had committed to the University of Florida two weeks ago after declining some of his acceptances but he decided to wait on those two in case he had a change of heart. I can see UMN trying to check on him ( OOS tuition), but I did not think our Instate Flagship would do that. Are they looking to offer more kids admissions from the waitlists? Are they not getting their enrollment numbers? D18 did not experience this 2 years ago and she also waited until the last minute to decline a few of her acceptances.
The antibody testing which is now being made available and easily to the general public in many areas could prove very beneficial. If enough people tested show prior exposure we could perhaps approach the herd immunity. I have to believe that for every person who tested positive for Covid, that there were multiples of that who had it and weren’t tested due to shortages of tests, mild symptoms or asymptomatic people.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. My tenured neighbor says he could lose his tenure if he doesn’t teach. I haven’t seen his contract, so I’m not sure if it is absolute or he just sees the potential.
Most schools wouldn’t mind keeping the few prized tenured faculty and increasing the number of adjuncts and lower paid professors. They’ve been heading this way for years.
It took years to develop the polio vaccine and another 10 or so to get it distributed to the urban US (many more for the rural parts).
It is not like there is going to be a vaccine in summer 2021 and then everyone is going to be immediately safe, that travel will be safe.
I’m trying to understand how this thread is supposed to differ from “Coronavirus and US Campus Issues”. Aren’t these essentially the same topics? If this thread is for ‘schools’ in general - and not colleges specifically- should the title be changed? I am interested in the college topic specifically and people are posting interesting college updates here that I’m not seeing on the other thread.
FYI my D17 just signed a lease for off campus housing (a house, in LA but not a UC), all done remotely from out of state. Found it online and did a zoom tour. Now, she’s a junior so she did have roommates already, so this helps. If she was a freshman, yes, this would be unnerving for sure, but many incoming freshman during normal years “find” their roommates on social media, so it’s still an option. Certainly not the most optimal way to do it, but not insurmountable.
My S19’s school has had the student government members dialed into its virus-related decisions since this started, and will be putting up a platform for parent and student input into the coronavirus task force.
I was surprised to learn that part of the task force is planning for student quarantine areas…I’ve been (and still am) of the position that it isn’t really the college’s responsibility to quarantine covid infected kids, and doesn’t seem feasible from a financial, housing inventory, or medical care standpoint. Of course, there will be exceptions just as there were exceptions to closing campuses, but I think that responsibility should remain where it is now…with the student and parents. Maybe that is what they are planning for…the exceptions. We will see. This is a medium sized private school (7000) in a rural area.
@suzyQ7 I can’t moderate these threads since I am participating in them, but I can comment.
I was looking at the “fall” thread as concentrating on what schools are doing to prepare for that semester. The “campus issues” thread has to do with other college issues, such as the impact of of online learning on current students. I know there is some overlap, though.
If you feel differently, you can report a post and ask the moderating team to consider closing one of the threads.