College Disruption Continues
We have seen massive disruption in America over the last year. Lives have been put into a tailspin, and plans have been shattered. If you were planning on going to college and enjoying the experience of getting to know fellow students or go to football games and cheer your team on while you further your education, then that has been put on hold — for some, indefinitely.
As 2020 moves into its final chapter, a growing number of colleges have taken the decision to delay their start times. Some have taken an extra week, while some decided on a full month. Middlebury College in Vermont moved the start date by two months and only commences on March 1, 2021.
On top of a delay in beginning the New Year, many schools have also decided to scrap plans for spring break. Some institutions are instead adding shorter holidays scattered throughout the semester.
Learners have been put into a kind of holding pattern, waiting to see what happens next. Worry and fear about contracting the virus are high across the country, especially in a college environment. A study by The New York Times of more than 1,700 American colleges and universities revealed at least 70 deaths and more than 178,000 cases of COVID-19 have occurred in colleges in the United States since the onset of the global pandemic. Most of the cases cropped up as recently as when students returned to study for the fall term.
Gone are the days of sororities and fraternities having the occasional party on campus. This year students and faculty will be holding virtual classes to maintain distance from each other. Forget social distancing, this is a whole new ballgame. Online learning is the new normal.
But are you getting bang for your buck, so to speak? For many college students and their parents, learning remotely doesn’t offer the same value as in-person instruction. Trying to get any sort of refund if you’ve paid for your tuition and expected to get a real-life class with a lecturer is proving impossible for many. Nearly all of the colleges, while they have offered refunds on room and board, have drawn the line at tuition. If you compare the cost for an in-person Calculus 101 course, it comes out to $2,500 — a hefty sum when you consider an equivalent course taken online is a fraction of the cost at just $400.
Nobody knows what the future holds, and there is no crystal ball to tell us when the virus will be under control and we can return to campuses and life as normal. Until then, the disruption continues unabated and students feel the brunt of it.
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