@houndmom - Yes, we should know all on Friday as that is the new date for announcing opening plans and college class schedules. My son had a Zoom call with a department head yesterday about an unrelated subject and was told to be prepared for the majority of his classes to be on-line. Rumor mill is rife, but the consensus seems to be that students will, on average, have one class in person and the rest on line. I hope and pray this is wrong, but given the circumstances and level of fear, I don’t expect the administration to do anything that might assume risk.
The disconnect I have is with the explanation on how it is safe for my student to congregate in the dorms, dining halls, busses, clubs, etc. but not to be able to assemble in classrooms so they can receive the instruction and experience they earned and paid for. My theory is that by offering one class in person, and pleading that they did the best they possibly could under the circumstances, the administration will persuade students to flock to campus, pay their tuition and dorm rent while purchasing meal plans and spending large sums of money in and around Gainesville. This alleviates the financial duress the university and surrounding communities might experience otherwise. This way, the university generates the cash flow necessary to pay the bills while the local Chamber of Commerce is mollified and quiet. The university skates away by offering crumbs to students at full fare. This is an ideal plan if your purpose is to serve yourself rather than the students. Never mind the parents who carry the tax burden each year that provides most of the institution’s funding.
More than anything, I want to be wrong. I hope for all the students that I am. If so, I will gladly apologize to UF for not giving credit where credit is due. We will know Friday.