Even if colleges have small entering freshman classes in 2020, or if those 2020s have to delay entry, the schools would still have the same number of students on campus even if they’d have a ‘double’ entering class of 2020/2021. The issue would be that schools would have double the number of students needing the entry level classes.
There are ways to accommodate, such as having the ‘real’ 2020s take classes in the summer to graduate on time or creating a January term just for those who don’t have enough credits to graduate, adding extra ‘half’ classes at the schools that usually have students take 4 courses (unlike public schools where students could just take 17 credits per semester), not encouraging study abroad except in the summer, etc.
Nothing is going to be perfect, but I’m sure they’ll come up with work-arounds.
Mwfan1921Mwfan1921 I cannot find the google doc that lists the colleges that have moved acceptance date to June 1st. Can you give directions on how/where to find this list?
I really agree with @Mwfan1921 earlier - how this specifically will hurt spring sports potential recruits Class of 21. Especially track. We know some track kids who are just so disappointed as senior year spring is really too late for recruitment. Junior year is vital.
D21 had been 85% sure she wants to go to local state uni. This has sealed it. stock market decline (she worries about my financial status) and ease of being home in crisis, and if online classes why spend $$ for them. She is extremely practically minded.
Let’s say the crisis results in an extension of schools being closed into Fall 2020. Let’s also say they can reopen for January 2021.
Possible solution. Hold 1st semester for Class of 2020 Jan-May 2021. Then hold their 2nd semester May-August 2021. Class of 21 gets to start on time in Fall 2021. Class of 20 is caught up by Fall 2021 but they lose that summer.
My son graduates this year, college is picked, so we do have skin in the game.
“Possible solution. Hold 1st semester for Class of 2020 Jan-May 2021. Then hold their 2nd semester May-August 2021.”
That sounds like a great alternative.
I still say it will be “business as usual” come fall semester. Even if citizens are willing to tolerate an extended quarantine (and I don’t think the majority are willing, at least they won’t be after another month or so), the economy can’t take it. We’re buying time here and we don’t have the resources to buy more.
Would work for quarter system schools, since summer is a normal length quarter. The normal academic calendar is typically a tight fit (10 weeks of instruction plus 1-2 weeks of final exams and overhead per quarter, so 44-48 weeks in a year).
But at semester system schools, summer is typically shorter than the 15 weeks of instruction that a normal semester is. They would have to alter the academic calendar to accommodate three full semesters of 15 weeks of instruction plus 1-2 weeks of final exams and overhead each, or 48-51 weeks in the year, rather than the usual two full semesters and a shorter summer term where students take smaller course loads than in a full semester.
I really think schools will be open in the fall 2020 but just as online, better setup than now but more than likely online , no dorm. Schools , unless they get gov’t bailouts need to open to get funds into their accounts. Not everyone can take a Gap year, and local CC can only handle so many kids. Basically schools will ask kids and parents to pay regular tuition in the fall to hold you spot for the next 3 and a half years.
I think even the top private colleges will suffer money-wise if they go online, because I am a freshman at Amherst College, and I know multiple kids who have dropped out for the semester because they didn’t want to deal with online work (even though they already paid tuition). I imagine if they asked for full tuition for the whole next semester or even year, there would be many who would just take time off until classes started again and refuse to pay tuition for online classes.
@ChemAM I am starting to think that as well. Most of the NESCAC colleges have 50% of their students paying full tuition. I have to wonder how many of those families will really agree to pay $30k for online classes fall semester. Seems like elite schools are going to have to come to some compromise if kids can’t go back to campus. They can’t allow a large percentage of kids to take a semester off but I also don’t think they, in good conscious, can tell families they have to pay or their student can’t be a student anymore. That would be awful for their reputation.
There might have to be a compromise. Online costs less. Or class in person starts in Jan and continues through August instead of the usual school year of Aug-May.
There will always be enough families able and willing to pay full tuition for a prestigious degree regardless of teaching format, and the very top schools can always get those students. Classes in the summer might work for frosh, but sophomores and juniors need those summers free for internships which are the pipeline to full time jobs.
A gap semester may not be too realistic, because typical gap semester opportunities and activities will be much more limited.
The likely outcome is that students and parents will be less likely to pay a premium for any experiential differences when the experience will be more similar across colleges in an all-distance/online situation. They may still pay more for curricular differences (e.g. offerings of majors and courses, content of courses) and/or prestige, but those private colleges that sell themselves mainly on the experience rather than curricular differences and prestige are likely to be the worst off, particularly if they cannot afford to use FA and scholarship discounts to compete on price.
@ucbalumnus I mean they wouldn’t do any gap semester or gap year activities; many students are saying they would just relax at home for the semester or year instead of paying for full tuition if they remain online, and come back when they go face-to-face again. There have already been some rich students who have withdrawn for the semester and are just relaxing at home because they don’t want to deal with online classes.
Colleges don’t have to give open-ended leaves. They can tell students to return to school, or forfeit their spot. There are plenty of transfer applicants to Amherst willing to pay, even for an online experience, so for top colleges, students are fungible.
@ChemAM, many colleges and directional universities (including the one where my husband teaches chemistry) are primarily teaching institutions, and any research is student-driven. My husband is a tenured professor, and his job is ALL about teaching, including the research component.
It is difficult to believe that colleges like Amherst and comparable schools would give their current students an ultimatum to enroll for $30k+ per semester of online classes (beyond this spring) or lose their spots. Students, parents and many professors and administrators would refuse to put their current students in that position. Now many other universities may not have this luxury but I see it more likely that these upper tier colleges would instead delay the start of the fall semester, modify their calendars (by shortening semesters by a week or two and/or cut short winter break and eliminate Jan terms) and extend 2nd semester into the summer. I’m sure the vast majority of students would choose that scenario vs. online classes from home for another half year.
You can’t extend second semester much. Internships start in early June. UChicago, which went t mid-June, was already rearranging its quarter system to better accommodate internships.