College parents...fall semester?

[Colleen27]

I hope she has a good advisor who can share a more expert opinion on the situation, but a B in Organic sounds pretty good to me - especially given the circumstances.
Honestly, the circumstances being what they are, I have no idea how normal college or grad school application processes have been, or will be for the next couple of years. My DD is in HS, and I know her life and schooling hasn't been normal, so I hope that doesn't mess up the entire process.

That's what I keep reminding her - no one in her cohort is going to have the "normal" experience. This is hitting everyone, so the people she'll be competing against to get into grad school will have endured the same disruptions to their classes, the lack of labs, the screwed up and "virtual" internships, etc. But it is hard for her perfectionist self to wrap her head around that.

I'd encourage my kid to take a gap year for sure. No way is it worth it to do online learning and live in a face mask for a year at those prices.

OR

I'd choose a different college where they aren't doing all of that. My daughter is class of '22 and she plans on applying to colleges that are having classes in person, minimal to no masking.

I think that's a lot easier to say when you're still in the applications process. Most schools give only a tiny fraction of the merit aid to transfers as they do to incoming freshmen, so once you commit, changing schools can be a very expensive proposition. Especially if there are also issues with credit transfer or requirements that in-major classes have to be taken at the degree-granting university.

My daughter's gift aid covers nearly all of her tuition, and she was just informed that she'll be an RA/LLC mentor again in the fall (though obviously this year the "resident" part of that didn't come into play, nor did the compensation other than a small stipend), which will cover her full room and board. For her to take a gap year or change schools would, conservatively, cost us $50K or more over the remainder of her degree program... and that in turn would mean taking out loans that she (and we) very much want to avoid because she is planning on grad school and might need to borrow for that.

 

[mjkacmom]

400 cases last week? That's crazy in the current climate. Granted, they don't have surveillance testing at my daughter's 30K student school, but they have all signed a pledge to self report if they come up positive. They are down to 7 active cases today.

They didn’t require negative tests before coming on campus (suggested it), and they all had to test that first week.

 

[mefordis]

That's what I keep reminding her - no one in her cohort is going to have the "normal" experience. This is hitting everyone, so the people she'll be competing against to get into grad school will have endured the same disruptions to their classes, the lack of labs, the screwed up and "virtual" internships, etc. But it is hard for her perfectionist self to wrap her head around that.



I think that's a lot easier to say when you're still in the applications process. Most schools give only a tiny fraction of the merit aid to transfers as they do to incoming freshmen, so once you commit, changing schools can be a very expensive proposition. Especially if there are also issues with credit transfer or requirements that in-major classes have to be taken at the degree-granting university.

My daughter's gift aid covers nearly all of her tuition, and she was just informed that she'll be an RA/LLC mentor again in the fall (though obviously this year the "resident" part of that didn't come into play, nor did the compensation other than a small stipend), which will cover her full room and board. For her to take a gap year or change schools would, conservatively, cost us $50K or more over the remainder of her degree program... and that in turn would mean taking out loans that she (and we) very much want to avoid because she is planning on grad school and might need to borrow for that.

Ah, that's another story. I admit there is a lot I don't know about the entire process. I'll find out soon enough. She is applying to schools who don't have tight restrictions now, but who knows what we'll face in '22.

 

[disneyworldsk]

if we had to do it again it would have overall been better if ds lived off campus where there is more freedoms (even food) then living in the dorms where , for example, he can't even use the outdoor basketball courts (no one is even ever on the courts, he dribbles alone but it's closed now). He is happy and has friends and busy and some in class but if i had to do it again i would have had him off campus fall and now. As a consequence of learning all of this, DS #2 is entering college this fall as a freshman and he won't be going to DS #1 school because of those issues.

 

[Colleen27]

Ah, that's another story. I admit there is a lot I don't know about the entire process. I'll find out soon enough. She is applying to schools who don't have tight restrictions now, but who knows what we'll face in '22.

I expect by then things will be mostly normal, probably with a vaccination requirement for students living on campus. Even my daughter's school, which is in the most restrictive city in one of the most restrictive states (San Francisco, CA), is aiming for that by fall and I'm probably just being a pessimist when I worry they won't get there. Her residence life advisor (boss) and the professor in charge of the living-learning community she RAs for both claim that at the very least freshmen, who have an on-campus housing guarantee, and the living-learning communities will be back in the dorms (along with the student-athletes, international, and housing insecure students that are there already).

I hope your daughter is able to have a semi-normal senior year and introduction to college. As hard as this has all been on DD, I think it would have a thousand times worse if she was a year younger and had all her senior traditions and her transition to college disrupted.

 

[JimMIA]

In person class isn’t the only thing going back to normal at Bama next year.

Yeah, UCF hasn't announced it yet, but they did announce that The Bounce House is 84% sold out for next season. So I expect we'll be full capacity too.