OK all, want to get a sense here of how others are viewing this pandemic–with respect to next year. I didn’t want to reference a specific UC because quite frankly I wanted to pull in as much input from others as possible.
My student has made a choice and we plan on submitting the SIR next week. But the big question now is not choosing among schools accepted to, the question is choosing between the UC and the CC.
If it weren’t for the current pandemic, we would have already submitted. Money is not the issue, but is it money well spent. My concern is the entire freshman experience. If my student loses out on that, all of a sudden I am wondering why I laid out 15K in tuition for an education that you could get at the CC for free.
Does anyone really want to start sophomore year, not having met people in the dorms? Most of the UCs have multi-year housing guarantees, but those second and beyond years are not the same as the dorms and I fear that some of those guarantees may need to be modified because of what may happen next year. i.e. housing anticipates that there will inevitably be second and third years moving off campus in determining their guaranteed housing availability. Just think about the whole sorority/fraternity rush situation next fall. Are they doing that online?
The downside on CC becomes–how many others are going that route? More CC students, harder to get classes, more competition, etc.
Love to hear everyone’s thoughts right now. I get it that its speculation more than anything else. It is truly amazing that this wouldn’t have even been a thought a little over a month ago.
I had a discussion with a friend facing the same dilemma. They decided in the end the UC still offered a more enriching experience, possible online learning/restricted social life and all. They felt colleges may not return to “normal” for a long time and didn’t want to put off the four year college education indefinitely. Once restrictions ease, their child will be already very comfortable at the UC. No need to transition to a new campus/new friends/new academic life.
During an economic downturn, CCs tend to become more crowded because some people who would otherwise be working go to school instead. In addition, they may be subject to state budget cuts that cause reduction of class offerings, since the state will be getting less tax revenue.
Beyond that, the CC student looking to transfer needs to go into another competitive admission process if s/he wants to transfer to a more selective four year school.
For some majors, CCs have good coverage of the lower division courses, but that is not the case for some other majors, at least at some campuses (see https://www.assist.org ). Also, if the student is advanced in course progression and may want to take upper division courses within the first two years, that is not available at CCs.
At least one of the UCs has posted that they are unable to commit to housing guarantees at this time. I’m not really sure what that will mean going forward. And no word yet on my (rising) junior’s June start housing contract.
Don’t forget that UC’s don’t typically allow you to transfer in without a re-application. And depending the campus, since you chose not to share, that could mean not transferring for two years, i.e., two years at a juco.
btw: “most” campuses only guarantee two years of housing. UCSC does 4, if I recall.
Transfer student also, and Fall 2020 will be my first quarter.
It will be a steep learning curve:
Getting used to 10 week quarters from 16 week semesters
Staying on top of online, live lecture streams
Challenging but doable.
I wish online lectures were recorded in advance so we could watch on our own schedule, and in 1.5x or 2x speeds. Zoom lectures are so cumbersome, especially if the professor comes unprepared.
I am bummed because we miss out on college experience, club activities, social life, networking opportunities, and just being able to step foot on campus & enjoy facilities (cafes, libraries, learning resources).
Most UCs do not offer deferred enrollment, but a few do (but some of them have wording that says that requests for deferred enrollment are rarely granted). If that is of interest to the OP, check the specific campus’ policy on the matter.