College parents...fall semester?

[JimMIA]

Rechecked DD's classes. 100% online, no opportunity for any in-person classes for the Fall for her.

 

[Colleen27]

Because of rising cases across the country, does anyone think that some of these schools will make a new announcement that they aren't going to reopen campus and everything will go online, with kids staying at home? My son's school will reopen with hybrid classes (still determining what each individual class will do) and they are re-configuring dorm assignments (again, still determining). But I'm waiting for them to give up and tell everyone to stay home. .

I think we'll probably see that with K-12 schools but not so much with colleges. Most just cannot afford another lost semester, so they're under a lot more pressure to find ways to reopen safely.

We get the final update on DD's schedule today. Professors and department heads were given latitude in deciding the instructional methods for their courses for fall. Some will be online, some will be remote (online but in real time, with virtual meetings), some will be hybrid and some will be in person. And for classes that have multiple sections with different professors, there may be multiple options for students to choose from. It'll be interesting to see what DD's final balance looks like.

 

[aejammers]

I think we'll probably see that with K-12 schools but not so much with colleges. Most just cannot afford another lost semester, so they're under a lot more pressure to find ways to reopen safely.

We get the final update on DD's schedule today. Professors and department heads were given latitude in deciding the instructional methods for their courses for fall. Some will be online, some will be remote (online but in real time, with virtual meetings), some will be hybrid and some will be in person. And for classes that have multiple sections with different professors, there may be multiple options for students to choose from. It'll be interesting to see what DD's final balance looks like.

Fingers crossed--I hope you're right!

 

[kymom99]

I finally saw a release with a bit of info from my sons school. They are freezing tuition, housing, and dining prices. Move in will be spread out from August 6-16 by appointment. In person classes end at thanksgiving. No fall break.

 

[JimMIA]

Because of rising cases across the country, does anyone think that some of these schools will make a new announcement that they aren't going to reopen campus and everything will go online, with kids staying at home?

Will some not reopen? Sure. There are thousands of colleges, so surely some will not reopen.

But as Colleen27 said above, there are many schools for whom this is a really critical semester. Here's an example, from the University of Central Florida website, to give some perspective on the losses schools will take:



I can also tell you that the estimate is lower than our actual projected costs because of the dorm contract we entered into. That contract was for the full calendar year (whether or not DD attends during the summer) and the actual "Room" cost would be a little over $9,000 for us.

So if DD attends on-campus, UCF will receive about $15,000 in direct payments to the university ($6K tuition + $9K dorm).

IF DD decides to stay home and do her online classes here, UCF will lose at least $3,500 for the Fall semester dorm, and almost certainly the additional $2,000+ we would have paid for Summer 2021 dorm whether she used it or not.

That's the most likely stay-home scenario for us -- UCF loses $5,500 of the $15,000 they were expecting.

Now, multiply that by 11,700 -- the number of UCF dorm residents. It's more than a $64 MILLION loss.

And of course, if they close the campus they are likely to lose many students entirely for at least the Fall semester -- so BIG tuition/fees losses in addition to the dorm revenue loss.

 

[mjkacmom]

Will some not reopen? Sure. There are thousands of colleges, so surely some will not reopen.

But as Colleen27 said above, there are many schools for whom this is a really critical semester. Here's an example, from the University of Central Florida website, to give some perspective on the losses schools will take:

View attachment 505666

I can also tell you that the estimate is lower than our actual projected costs because of the dorm contract we entered into. That contract was for the full calendar year (whether or not DD attends during the summer) and the actual "Room" cost would be a little over $9,000 for us.

So if DD attends on-campus, UCF will receive about $15,000 in direct payments to the university ($6K tuition + $9K dorm).

IF DD decides to stay home and do her online classes here, UCF will lose at least $3,500 for the Fall semester dorm, and almost certainly the additional $2,000+ we would have paid for Summer 2021 dorm whether she used it or not.

That's the most likely stay-home scenario for us -- UCF loses $5,500 of the $15,000 they were expecting.

Now, multiply that by 11,700 -- the number of UCF dorm residents. It's more than a $64 MILLION loss.

And of course, if they close the campus they are likely to lose many students entirely for at least the Fall semester -- so BIG tuition/fees losses in addition to the dorm revenue loss.

Those are some nice public school prices!

 

[JimMIA]

Those are some nice public school prices!

Yep, and great school! Other Florida universities are in the same ballpark -- some a little more, some a little less.

 

[Colleen27]

DD checked on her updates. She's got three fully online/remote classes - the lecture portion of both of her science classes and her Japanese language course. The rest - lab sections for both sciences and a Japanese culture class - are hybrid, with some online and some in-person sessions. Which is about what we were expecting. The book learning can be done fairly well online but the lab elements need to be in person. I'm a little surprised about the culture class, since reading/watching and discussing works of literature and cinema seems like it would lend itself well to distance learning tools, but DD is pleased to have at least some chance to connect with other students in the (very small) Japanese major.

 

[HeatherC]

Because of rising cases across the country, does anyone think that some of these schools will make a new announcement that they aren't going to reopen campus and everything will go online, with kids staying at home? My son's school will reopen with hybrid classes (still determining what each individual class will do) and they are re-configuring dorm assignments (again, still determining). But I'm waiting for them to give up and tell everyone to stay home. .

Anything is possible at this point I guess. I think what will be interesting is the housing part of it. We have been told by my daughters school that housing will be singles. Not sure how that will happen when they already don’t have enough housing. Right now she is in a suite of 8....so where do they put 4 of these girls so everyone can have a single?

Several of her friends at different schools are waiting to hear from their schools as well regarding housing. It is kind of like the bussing with the K-12 grades.....have to social distance, but how is it feasible with not enough buses or dorm rooms at the college level.

 

[JimMIA]

Anything is possible at this point I guess. I think what will be interesting is the housing part of it. We have been told by my daughters school that housing will be singles. Not sure how that will happen when they already don’t have enough housing. Right now she is in a suite of 8....so where do they put 4 of these girls so everyone can have a single?

Several of her friends at different schools are waiting to hear from their schools as well regarding housing. It is kind of like the bussing with the K-12 grades.....have to social distance, but how is it feasible with not enough buses or dorm rooms at the college level.

I think the answer is they are going to have a lot of drop-off in enrollment, and especially in on-campus attendance by students who are all online anyway.

At our school, probably a majority of the dorm rooms have private bedrooms. Our typical dorm apartment has 4 single bedrooms and two bathrooms, but we have one area that has a lot of shared rooms. They are going to switch 450 or so shared bedrooms to private, with the option of returning to shared if desired (to keep your BFF as a roommate). They are also designating a bunch of rooms as quarantine rooms for students who test positive -- some in each dorm area, I believe.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

Penn State just sent a notice that they will be starting on time and sending everyone home for remote learning after Thanksgiving break. Today is the cutoff for medical accommodation form so I suspect they will need to reevaluate their space and see if they can actually fit everyone. I would think quad and supplemental housing will be a no go. He is all in so we decided to get DS a single for next semester because at least when the school closed we got our money back for both the room and dining plus his stuff was safe.

Umass Amherst is very vague but it seems as though they will balance offering both physical and remote if they choose to have physical classes. DD had an apartment this past semester and we had to pay all this time even though things were closed. PLUS we got a letter that if stuff was abandoned we'd need to pay for all her stuff being carted away at our expense so zero support. She had to go up and get her stuff & has decided to stay home instead of trying to navigate the stress & seems much calmer.

Actually I could see the remote after Thanksgiving break thing be a permanent thing. It never made sense to have to go back to school after Thanksgiving only to have the semester end in a few weeks anyway.

 

[HeatherC]

I think the answer is they are going to have a lot of drop-off in enrollment, and especially in on-campus attendance by students who are all online anyway.

At our school, probably a majority of the dorm rooms have private bedrooms. Our typical dorm apartment has 4 single bedrooms and two bathrooms, but we have one area that has a lot of shared rooms. They are going to switch 450 or so shared bedrooms to private, with the option of returning to shared if desired (to keep your BFF as a roommate). They are also designating a bunch of rooms as quarantine rooms for students who test positive -- some in each dorm area, I believe.

I agree with the drop off enrollment and online. I actually think that is exactly what they are waiting and hoping for. Enough kids go online from home opens up more housing. Kind of like with K-12 grades hoping arents do online so they have smaller numbers to figure out the bussing and social distancing.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

Penn State just sent a notice that they will be starting on time and sending everyone home for remote learning after Thanksgiving break. Today is the cutoff for medical accommodation form so I suspect they will need to reevaluate their space and see if they can actually fit everyone. I would think quad and supplemental housing will be a no go. He is all in so we decided to get DS a single for next semester because at least when the school closed we got our money back for both the room and dining plus his stuff was safe.

Umass Amherst is very vague but it seems as though they will balance offering both physical and remote if they choose to have physical classes. DD had an apartment this past semester and we had to pay all this time even though things were closed. PLUS we got a letter that if stuff was abandoned we'd need to pay for all her stuff being carted away at our expense so zero support. She had to go up and get her stuff & has decided to stay home instead of trying to navigate the stress & seems much calmer.

Actually I could see the remote after Thanksgiving break thing be a permanent thing. It never made sense to have to go back to school after Thanksgiving only to have the semester end in a few weeks anyway.

Our daughter’s college is local but she will live on campus if she is able to. She hasn’t received a room assignment yet, and we are concerned that they are going to say that they don’t have enough space for her and that she can commute since she is local. If this happens, she will take a gap semester or year. She doesn’t have any interest in attending college as a commuter student. Also, we wouldn’t want her to bring the virus home to us and I suspect that colleges are going to be a big source of spread.

I think gap year makes the most sense for alot of kids. Who would really want to experience a college in quarantine and online experience. Assuming this COVID thing isn't a permanent thing I think alot of kids will be taking a gap year this year.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

Will some not reopen? Sure. There are thousands of colleges, so surely some will not reopen.

But as Colleen27 said above, there are many schools for whom this is a really critical semester. Here's an example, from the University of Central Florida website, to give some perspective on the losses schools will take:

View attachment 505666

I can also tell you that the estimate is lower than our actual projected costs because of the dorm contract we entered into. That contract was for the full calendar year (whether or not DD attends during the summer) and the actual "Room" cost would be a little over $9,000 for us.

So if DD attends on-campus, UCF will receive about $15,000 in direct payments to the university ($6K tuition + $9K dorm).

IF DD decides to stay home and do her online classes here, UCF will lose at least $3,500 for the Fall semester dorm, and almost certainly the additional $2,000+ we would have paid for Summer 2021 dorm whether she used it or not.

That's the most likely stay-home scenario for us -- UCF loses $5,500 of the $15,000 they were expecting.

Now, multiply that by 11,700 -- the number of UCF dorm residents. It's more than a $64 MILLION loss.

And of course, if they close the campus they are likely to lose many students entirely for at least the Fall semester -- so BIG tuition/fees losses in addition to the dorm revenue loss.

Yeah, there will be schools that go bankrupt if they can't open or have to cancel school.

 

[JimMIA]

Actually I could see the remote after Thanksgiving break thing be a permanent thing. It never made sense to have to go back to school after Thanksgiving only to have the semester end in a few weeks anyway.

Agree, although DD will return to campus anyway to take advantage of the academic resources prior to finals -- especially as a first-semester freshman.

I think gap year makes the most sense for alot of kids. Who would really want to experience a college in quarantine and online experience. Assuming this COVID thing isn't a permanent thing I think alot of kids will be taking a gap year this year.

Gap year to do what? Be stuck at home somewhere? Think there will be a lot of internships and student jobs available in the middle of a pandemic? I don't.

The other thing is that some schools support and encourage gap years; others don't. So if a student decides to take a gap year, they may not get admitted to that dream school next year.

 

[mom2rtk]

Word on the street is that Missouri is cutting some of their Bright Flight funding. Not happy to see that happen so late in the game. Now on top of the uncertainty of how school will look, it appears it might cost even more on top of the tuition increase.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

.Gap year to do what? Be stuck at home somewhere? Think there will be a lot of internships and student jobs available in the middle of a pandemic? I don't.

The other thing is that some schools support and encourage gap years; others don't. So if a student decides to take a gap year, they may not get admitted to that dream school next year.

If you could travel to another country, maybe Iceland or New Zealand or Australia or Japan and work or study there for a gap year and learn the language, etc. (This would have to assume that the school holds your place for the following year)

 

[JimMIA]

Word on the street is that Missouri is cutting some of their Bright Flight funding. Not happy to see that happen so late in the game. Now on top of the uncertainty of how school will look, it appears it might cost even more on top of the tuition increase.

What is Bright Flight? A scholarship for good students? If so, they shouldn't reduce the amount in mid-stream!

 

[Colleen27]

If you could travel to another country, maybe Iceland or New Zealand or Australia or Japan and work or study there for a gap year and learn the language, etc. (This would have to assume that the school holds your place for the following year)

Except that international borders are all closed and will be for the foreseeable future...

I think this is the worst possible time for kids to take a gap year. They can't travel to broaden their horizons, they can't get jobs to save for school, they can't volunteer or work an internship to get exposure to their chosen field. All they can do is sit home, spend too much time on social media/video games/binge watching, and maybe get a low-wage job if they're quick about it and get their foot in the door before the $600 pandemic assistance expires and millions of unemployed Americans start scrambling to land even the most menial jobs because it at least pays more than ordinary unemployment. Better to get the pre-reqs out of the way, even in a diminished school environment or at a community college with a transfer plan, and keep moving forward.

 

[CarolAnn856]

If you could travel to another country, maybe Iceland or New Zealand or Australia or Japan and work or study there for a gap year and learn the language, etc. (This would have to assume that the school holds your place for the following year)

Yeeeaaah, world travel during a world pandemic isn’t really a good option, especially when your home county has completely failed in every aspect of dealing with it.