College starting a week early

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New Zealand wedding seems nice now...

Except they won't let in foreigners, and for those who can go, there's the matter of the two week hotel quarantine first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still no one here can explain why this makes sense other than keeping kids from traveling more in Nov and Dec.?

Campuses are going to be experiments where we see if putting thousands of people into close quarters will result in outbreaks. There's no precedent to study before students return because colleges shut down before the pandemic really ramped up. Other than colleges needing to show they're open and parents and students desiring it, what is the medical position on doing this? Lots of talk here saying "great idea" and worrying about summer jobs and wedding plans but not a peep about potential spread. Anyone's kid's college give you an actual explanation beyond just "we'll test everyone and cross our fingers re: dorm living"?

I agree. ND made this move and other colleges followed. There will be less outbreak if students don’t come back after Thanksgiving does nothing to stop a huge outbreak during September/October. It worries me that colleges are spending time with Congress so they won’t be held responsible. There is no unified state/country/world plan. Colleges want your money in August and they want the full tuition. They want to be held responsible for nothing. Will they be able to separate the infected from those that are exposed and waiting. It can’t be like the cruise ship and nursing home fiascos where a few people are infected and everyone else is locked up and ends up getting it. Do colleges really have all this extra space? Will they have doctors and nurses roaming the quarantined dorms 24 hours a day to make sure everyone is ok?

Thank you. This is what concerns me. Colleges are not equipped to become health monitors in this situation. I also expect that if many colleges are opening in about eight weeks' time from now, and all are vowing to test, they're going to find they can't get all the tests they need. And testing at the start on arrival isn't the end. They'll need to do retesting and should not wait until symptoms show.

I also have yet to see any college issuing a truly detailed plan re: bathrooms in dorms and class buildings, food service issues (from how to serve drinks without touch-button drink dispensers that have spigots open to splash back, to ongoing testing for employees etc etc) and so on. I cannot see how shared bathrooms, especially showers, plus sinks (where kids brush teeth and therefore spit into the sinks...) can even REMOTELY be made safer. What college has 100 percent single rooms with individual bathrooms? None I know.

It's a medical experiment. Students do need to go back but these colleges are bringing them back in just about eight weeks. No way they can alter dat to day dorm setups in that time.

[Anonymous]

I like an earlier start if the students will finish first semester by Thanksgiving. People also seem to be less sick during summer with colds and flu so less overlap with covid at that time.

[Anonymous]

My daughter’s school last night said school starting at regular date and ending at Thanksgiving for in person classes. Finals in December will be on line. UMASS Amherst

[Anonymous]

Was on big zoom meeting at UMASS Amherst last night. Takeaways.

Only Freshman and Transfers get priority in housing. Will be singles, not everyone who is Sophmore, Juniors it Seniors will get housing. Only non singles will be if waver signed between existing roommates. No random roommate assignment.

Buildings will allow zero visitors in building all school years and. Common seating areas closed off.

Rooms will be kept spare to separate kids with Covid it exposed to covid

All cafeteria is grab and go.

School will be mid of online vs in person. For instance a Tuesday and Thursday class 1/2 students in person once a week and 1/2 remote even if students on campus.

International and students with underlying conditions can do remote learning.

Spring semester will be normal.

It sounds like a prison. Imagine a freshman in a single room, only take out food back to room, no parties or concerts on campus. Someone asked about social activities and said Horse basketball maybe singles tennis where you is ball. Maybe drive in movie in parking lot.

There will be no Covid testing required pre school and parents can’t go into buildings on move in day.

Sounds great but all my daughters friends and she is a Junior will be living off campus in apartments and frat buildings are also off campus and none of theses rules apply. It sound like 75 percent of school is living off campus next fall. Amherst has five colleges in area and the cute downtown has lots of student apartments.

My daughter has a four bedroom and four bath apt off campus with three roommates. But that garden apt complex is nearly all students. I think it will work but in schools where majority of campus lives off campus what kid will want to live on campus in a prison for long

[Anonymous]

Thank you for posting that. That sounds really depressing. And very much like security theater in a way -- as you say, lots of restrictions for kids living in dorms, but what about all the kids who don't? As long as there are in-person classes and interactions, what exactly will all these restrictions do to prevent transmission?

I wish my rising freshman would consider a gap year, but he's bound and determined to start, no matter what the restrictions at his school might be (haven't been announced yet).

[Anonymous]

destination weddings are stupid. Just elope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still no one here can explain why this makes sense other than keeping kids from traveling more in Nov and Dec.?

Campuses are going to be experiments where we see if putting thousands of people into close quarters will result in outbreaks. There's no precedent to study before students return because colleges shut down before the pandemic really ramped up. Other than colleges needing to show they're open and parents and students desiring it, what is the medical position on doing this? Lots of talk here saying "great idea" and worrying about summer jobs and wedding plans but not a peep about potential spread. Anyone's kid's college give you an actual explanation beyond just "we'll test everyone and cross our fingers re: dorm living"?

I agree. ND made this move and other colleges followed. There will be less outbreak if students don’t come back after Thanksgiving does nothing to stop a huge outbreak during September/October. It worries me that colleges are spending time with Congress so they won’t be held responsible. There is no unified state/country/world plan. Colleges want your money in August and they want the full tuition. They want to be held responsible for nothing. Will they be able to separate the infected from those that are exposed and waiting. It can’t be like the cruise ship and nursing home fiascos where a few people are infected and everyone else is locked up and ends up getting it. Do colleges really have all this extra space? Will they have doctors and nurses roaming the quarantined dorms 24 hours a day to make sure everyone is ok?

Thank you. This is what concerns me. Colleges are not equipped to become health monitors in this situation. I also expect that if many colleges are opening in about eight weeks' time from now, and all are vowing to test, they're going to find they can't get all the tests they need. And testing at the start on arrival isn't the end. They'll need to do retesting and should not wait until symptoms show.

I also have yet to see any college issuing a truly detailed plan re: bathrooms in dorms and class buildings, food service issues (from how to serve drinks without touch-button drink dispensers that have spigots open to splash back, to ongoing testing for employees etc etc) and so on. I cannot see how shared bathrooms, especially showers, plus sinks (where kids brush teeth and therefore spit into the sinks...) can even REMOTELY be made safer. What college has 100 percent single rooms with individual bathrooms? None I know.

It's a medical experiment. Students do need to go back but these colleges are bringing them back in just about eight weeks. No way they can alter dat to day dorm setups in that time.

The college I work for has dozens of different multi-expert teams tasked with each of these issues, each coordinating with state public health officials. This is what most schools are doing. They aren't going to release these plans as they are changing with the data/recommendations all the time and that would create massive confusion. But there's multiple teams devoted to residence life, food services, classroom cleaning, contact tracing and isolation practices etc. So they are not totally winging it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was on big zoom meeting at UMASS Amherst last night. Takeaways.

Only Freshman and Transfers get priority in housing. Will be singles, not everyone who is Sophmore, Juniors it Seniors will get housing. Only non singles will be if waver signed between existing roommates. No random roommate assignment.

Buildings will allow zero visitors in building all school years and. Common seating areas closed off.

Rooms will be kept spare to separate kids with Covid it exposed to covid

All cafeteria is grab and go.

School will be mid of online vs in person. For instance a Tuesday and Thursday class 1/2 students in person once a week and 1/2 remote even if students on campus.

International and students with underlying conditions can do remote learning.

Spring semester will be normal.

It sounds like a prison. Imagine a freshman in a single room, only take out food back to room, no parties or concerts on campus. Someone asked about social activities and said Horse basketball maybe singles tennis where you is ball. Maybe drive in movie in parking lot.

There will be no Covid testing required pre school and parents can’t go into buildings on move in day.

Sounds great but all my daughters friends and she is a Junior will be living off campus in apartments and frat buildings are also off campus and none of theses rules apply. It sound like 75 percent of school is living off campus next fall. Amherst has five colleges in area and the cute downtown has lots of student apartments.

My daughter has a four bedroom and four bath apt off campus with three roommates. But that garden apt complex is nearly all students. I think it will work but in schools where majority of campus lives off campus what kid will want to live on campus in a prison for long

Thanks for the info from your school. For freshman this sounds like a nightmare. Colleges want to be paid in full for the freshman to sit in their room and do work and have no fun. These steps make sense to stay healthy from Covid but this is not a college experience and freshman will hate it. They are better off doing zoom at home and parents saving money. Colleges can not believe that this is going to work. Students will have mental breakdowns from this isolation. We are in a Pandemic and students are not robots that can adjust to sit in their rooms or wear masks all day so colleges get all the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rumor that is going to be announced by DDs college very soon. We planned her sister's destination wedding for the week before school. Now with COVID, most people will not make the trip and now we think her sister probably can't attend as well. We are screaming.

I know it's disappointing, but I'm kinda surprised you hadn't written off the entire wedding quite a while ago.

I told my family and my work that the entire month of August was going to be a huge question mark, precisely because even back in March people were speculating on different start dates, pushing orientations to late summer, etc.

We have scaled back the wedding list to just parents and siblings. My DDs are extremely close so not having her best friend/maid of honor at the wedding is so sad.

So change the wedding plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was on big zoom meeting at UMASS Amherst last night. Takeaways.

Only Freshman and Transfers get priority in housing. Will be singles, not everyone who is Sophmore, Juniors it Seniors will get housing. Only non singles will be if waver signed between existing roommates. No random roommate assignment.

Buildings will allow zero visitors in building all school years and. Common seating areas closed off.

Rooms will be kept spare to separate kids with Covid it exposed to covid

All cafeteria is grab and go.

School will be mid of online vs in person. For instance a Tuesday and Thursday class 1/2 students in person once a week and 1/2 remote even if students on campus.

International and students with underlying conditions can do remote learning.

Spring semester will be normal.

It sounds like a prison. Imagine a freshman in a single room, only take out food back to room, no parties or concerts on campus. Someone asked about social activities and said Horse basketball maybe singles tennis where you is ball. Maybe drive in movie in parking lot.

There will be no Covid testing required pre school and parents can’t go into buildings on move in day.

Sounds great but all my daughters friends and she is a Junior will be living off campus in apartments and frat buildings are also off campus and none of theses rules apply. It sound like 75 percent of school is living off campus next fall. Amherst has five colleges in area and the cute downtown has lots of student apartments.

My daughter has a four bedroom and four bath apt off campus with three roommates. But that garden apt complex is nearly all students. I think it will work but in schools where majority of campus lives off campus what kid will want to live on campus in a prison for long

I don’t want my freshman to live alone and I bet many other parents feel that way. Isolation during a major transition period is not a good idea. I’d rather DC have more risk exposure with a roommate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still no one here can explain why this makes sense other than keeping kids from traveling more in Nov and Dec.?

Campuses are going to be experiments where we see if putting thousands of people into close quarters will result in outbreaks. There's no precedent to study before students return because colleges shut down before the pandemic really ramped up. Other than colleges needing to show they're open and parents and students desiring it, what is the medical position on doing this? Lots of talk here saying "great idea" and worrying about summer jobs and wedding plans but not a peep about potential spread. Anyone's kid's college give you an actual explanation beyond just "we'll test everyone and cross our fingers re: dorm living"?

I agree. ND made this move and other colleges followed. There will be less outbreak if students don’t come back after Thanksgiving does nothing to stop a huge outbreak during September/October. It worries me that colleges are spending time with Congress so they won’t be held responsible. There is no unified state/country/world plan. Colleges want your money in August and they want the full tuition. They want to be held responsible for nothing. Will they be able to separate the infected from those that are exposed and waiting. It can’t be like the cruise ship and nursing home fiascos where a few people are infected and everyone else is locked up and ends up getting it. Do colleges really have all this extra space? Will they have doctors and nurses roaming the quarantined dorms 24 hours a day to make sure everyone is ok?

Thank you. This is what concerns me. Colleges are not equipped to become health monitors in this situation. I also expect that if many colleges are opening in about eight weeks' time from now, and all are vowing to test, they're going to find they can't get all the tests they need. And testing at the start on arrival isn't the end. They'll need to do retesting and should not wait until symptoms show.

I also have yet to see any college issuing a truly detailed plan re: bathrooms in dorms and class buildings, food service issues (from how to serve drinks without touch-button drink dispensers that have spigots open to splash back, to ongoing testing for employees etc etc) and so on. I cannot see how shared bathrooms, especially showers, plus sinks (where kids brush teeth and therefore spit into the sinks...) can even REMOTELY be made safer. What college has 100 percent single rooms with individual bathrooms? None I know.

It's a medical experiment. Students do need to go back but these colleges are bringing them back in just about eight weeks. No way they can alter dat to day dorm setups in that time.

The college I work for has dozens of different multi-expert teams tasked with each of these issues, each coordinating with state public health officials. This is what most schools are doing. They aren't going to release these plans as they are changing with the data/recommendations all the time and that would create massive confusion. But there's multiple teams devoted to residence life, food services, classroom cleaning, contact tracing and isolation practices etc. So they are not totally winging it.

Notre Dame has a website dedicated to the phases of reopening...currently in phase 2 of 4. It looks like they are still in the planning stages for stage 3 and 4, but I did look at how they are handling dining. Currently, in phase 2, you can only do grab and go meals or plated meals packed to go (ordered through grub hub app). I imagine this can be continued for the campus reopening in a more coordinated approach. Here's the section on "campus environment." https://here.nd.edu/campus-environment/

[Anonymous]

Claremont Colleges starting early too (in what form is TBD)

https://tsl.news/5cs-start-fall-semester-early-covid-19/

[Anonymous]

The amount of mental illness in this years freshman classes is going to be larger than in the past if these plans remain as stated. It’s already a stressful transition. These will intentioned moves will make it easier for kids to feel isolated. I didn’t consider a gap year for DD because I didn’t think there were good options out there, but now it’s time to seriously consider waiting a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The amount of mental illness in this years freshman classes is going to be larger than in the past if these plans remain as stated. It’s already a stressful transition. These will intentioned moves will make it easier for kids to feel isolated. I didn’t consider a gap year for DD because I didn’t think there were good options out there, but now it’s time to seriously consider waiting a year.

Is your DD a riding college freshman with an acceptance somewhere this fall? "Fall" is now August. You need to stop "considering" and commit to a gap year if that's what your kid is doing because the start for most schools is only about two months away. Your kid is running out of time to change plans, to be blunt, if she's headed to college this fall. Some colleges are probably going to say they won't hold places for accepted students who wait too late to say they want a gap year but also want their slot at the college held for them.