Question: If they're saying up front that the on-campus portion of the semester ends at Thanksgiving, have they pro-rated the dorm and meal plan costs? I mean, a college semester is 14 weeks -- if it's now 12 weeks on campus, the dorm and meal plan should cost less.
I haven't seen anything to that effect from DD's school. If anything, dorms will be more expensive for a lot of students who would normally have chosen the cheaper triple or quad rooms that are now being reduced to (more expensive) doubles for the sake of better distancing. But they have said they'll be updating information about campus dining and meal plans, and I do expect some changes there because they use a declining-balance system and with fewer options (both in terms of locations and menus), as well as two fewer weeks of dorm living, the standard amount will likely be overkill for a lot of students.
I'm glad DD got an RA position for the upcoming year so we don't have to think about whether we're getting fair value for her dorm and meal plan.
What are people's thoughts on Gap years? My thinking is that any students that take a gap year will be competing for spots with next year's students. And what happens if this online stuff goes on for another year? Will they take 2 gap years? At what point will htey have found jobs or life changes that just stop them from going to university at all? Am I out to lunch on this subject?
I think this is actually the worst possible time for a gap year. Employment and travel experiences will both be greatly restricted because of the pandemic, so there's likely to be little in the way of productive ways for young people to spend the time. I personally think too much free time is a bad thing for most people, especially young people, so I wouldn't encourage a year off now.
Taking the first year at community college might make sense for many, especially if they're paying for college out of pocket and can enroll in a community college with a strong transfer agreement. And for students with significant financial aid, toughing it out might be the best way to go because some or all of the aid package might be lost if they defer enrollment to take a gap year or a year of commuting and coming in as a transfer. But taking a year off to do nothing in particular, in a time of high unemployment and restricted movement, just seems like a very bad idea for typical teens.
anyone whose kid is going to live on campus this upcoming term-any news on drastic changes to the move in process? asking b/c one of our big universities is making a point of getting students/parents aware that they MUST keep an eye out for updates on how the move-in process will occur b/c apparently it will in no way resemble prior years and will take place over a longer period of time.
DD has been told to block out three days for freshman move-in, because she's an RA in a freshman living-learning community, so it does sound like they're spreading it out. That's a big improvement over last year, IMO, when freshman move-in was all done in one day. The campus has so little parking that no undergrads are allowed cars on campus, and even with time blocks based on last initial, 1500 students moving in over one day was a real mess in terms of tight time limits (20 min) on parking to unload, lines stretching blocks to get into the unloading lot, long waits for carts to haul things upstairs, etc.
I assume they're also going to spread out returning student move-in, but that was more of a "window" to begin with because of the lack of orientation activities. Last year, I think there was a period of three or four days for returning students. Only freshmen and transfers had a single move-in day.
