Our college closed down for the semester, too

[....]

I'm so sad for dd18.  First semester of college.  She was doing SO well!!  She has all A's, never missed a single class, started to make friends, loved her teachers, was excited every day after school to come home and tell us all about it....  ☹️

They are moving to online learning for the rest of the semester.  Not sure what that entails, but dd18 does not do well with devices or virtual anything.  She does so much better with hands-on stuff and real interaction.  

I know shutting down the campuses are necessary, I'm just so sad!  And she's sad!  

[katilac]

It's so hard, especially for freshmen and seniors! 

My youngest is a sophomore, so she's had the first year experience and can expect a typical junior and senior year. 

My oldest is a senior who will miss commencement (it was supposed to be in two weeks). Of my kids, she is the sentimental one who would actually like all the pomp and circumstance. 

It's something to be sad about, even as we know it's needed 🙁

For online classes, it can help to have a schedule with alarms for both classes and study sessions. It's easy to 'lose time' when you don't have the standard reminders of going to class or seeing your classmates. Her classes may be at a specific time, or they may be recorded with leeway on when to watch. If they are recorded, pick a standard day and time to watch them. Keeping to a schedule will help keep track of time and assignments. Likewise study sessions - she'll be losing out on casual reminders (like seeing a friend in the same class at lunch or just seeing her roommate studying) so she may need to be stricter about setting up specific times to study. 

She should also make sure she has contact info for some other students in her classes. They might even set up a virtual study group. 

Good luck to her!

[....]

5 hours ago, katilac said:

It's so hard, especially for freshmen and seniors! 

My youngest is a sophomore, so she's had the first year experience and can expect a typical junior and senior year. 

My oldest is a senior who will miss commencement (it was supposed to be in two weeks). Of my kids, she is the sentimental one who would actually like all the pomp and circumstance. 

It's something to be sad about, even as we know it's needed 🙁

For online classes, it can help to have a schedule with alarms for both classes and study sessions. It's easy to 'lose time' when you don't have the standard reminders of going to class or seeing your classmates. Her classes may be at a specific time, or they may be recorded with leeway on when to watch. If they are recorded, pick a standard day and time to watch them. Keeping to a schedule will help keep track of time and assignments. Likewise study sessions - she'll be losing out on casual reminders (like seeing a friend in the same class at lunch or just seeing her roommate studying) so she may need to be stricter about setting up specific times to study. 

She should also make sure she has contact info for some other students in her classes. They might even set up a virtual study group. 

Good luck to her!

 

I agree!  Freshmen and seniors are probably hurting the most by this!  I heard they canceled college graduations (and even high school proms) everywhere.  ☹️

That's a good idea - using alarms.  I know she will have a hard time not physically going to the college.  Also, this means no math or writing labs when you need help.  We also don't have the best internet connection in the world, so I'm worried about that, too.

[teachermom2834]

My 19 yo ds is 500 miles away. He was doing great and planned to stay all summer. He has a job in sports that has been shut down indefinitely so he is without his job which means alot to him. He had three roommates he was sharing an apartment with and they all left so he is all alone. He has no friends at all left in town right now (except his girlfriend). So is he all alone until fall? That's a long time to be all alone in an apartment in a pretty quiet apartment complex. He's a social kid but  there is no one there to make friends with and nothing social happening. So he is just a long way from home with no friends and not really in a position to make them. I don't like it. 

There is a chance some roommates and local friends might return at some point. Or even just for visits. I don't know. No one knows anything right now. Everyone just packed up and went home. He will take at least one class. He can add another since he isn't working but those will be online so not like he is getting out and having interaction. He likes to go to the gym and play basketball which can be social even with strangers but those things aren't available now. 

We continue to offer him the option to come home but I don't think he'll take it. It is a lot of uncertainty, though. Uncertainty about his job. Uncertainty about his friends. He doesn't have plans for a living situation for next year because that was being discussed before everything shut down. 

I'm having a hard time with this one being so far away. We will continue to remind him he can return home. But he will want to stay in case things come back up and he has a job and roommates again. Just so uncertain right now. 

 

[HollyDay]

We got an email today saying dd's move out day is tomorrow!  We went up today (we live about an hour away) and moved about 90% out of the dorm.  Tomorrow we will go up and get the rest and do the cleaning before turning in the key.  I am just so sad for her.  She loves college.  She loved her dorm room.  She had some nice friends.  The campus is really beautiful right now with things starting to bloom.  The new student center just opened.  She joined some clubs this semester.  It is all over.  Everything, including advising is online now.  We will lose about $2000 in dorm/meal plan.  I'm just tired and overwhelmed

[regentrude]

5 hours ago, Evanthe said:

 Also, this means no math or writing labs when you need help.  

Not necessarily true. The writing center at our university is going online (and that is easy to do with little bandwidth because you can exchange text and not video), and our tutoring centers are running math and physics help sessions via zoom.

It make take  a bit for everything to settle, bu colleges work hard to make those resources available online. It just may not happen in week 1.

Edited March 18, 2020 by regentrude

[....]

10 hours ago, regentrude said:

Not necessarily true. The writing center at our university is going online (and that is easy to do with little bandwidth because you can exchange text and not video), and our tutoring centers are running math and physics help sessions via zoom.

It make take  a bit for everything to settle, bu colleges work hard to make those resources available online. It just may not happen in week 1.

 

I'll ask her, but we were under the impression that they were all closed.  That would be great if they were open.  She's trying to get all A's this semester and her statistics class is pretty hard.  She has an A in it, but doing homework in the math lab definitely helps.

[....]

10 hours ago, HollyDay said:

Everything, including advising is online now.  We will lose about $2000 in dorm/meal plan.  I'm just tired and overwhelmed

 

Oh, NO!!  Are they going to do something to give students a credit on their meal plans?  Or can you all get your money back?

[Penguin]

Are any colleges still operating normally now? I am not aware of any.

We have heavy hearts here, too.

Hugs to all.

[HollyDay]

On 3/18/2020 at 8:27 AM, Evanthe said:

 

Oh, NO!!  Are they going to do something to give students a credit on their meal plans?  Or can you all get your money back?

I don't know.  Yesterday morning, when we arrived at the dorm for check out....they said the students would have access to meal plan (it is done through ID card) for the duration of the semester (second week in May).  Since we live abut an hour away, we thought we could use at least some of it at the stand alones (chick fil a, pho, deli, etc) and the fast mart type store.  Once all this is over, we could drive up there periodically (it is a gorgeous campus to walk).  By the time we finished the work up there and checked out (4 hours later), they said no, we would not have access after 24 hours.  They said the reason being, they *might* be offering refunds.  One thing they said was definite is that no money would "roll over" or be applied as credit for returning students.  We went to the fast mart (very near dd's dorm) and bought about $100 of things she wanted/needed.  Then we stopped in the coffee shop (no ready made food/drink, just prepackaged) and got a few things.  About $50.  But, that still leaves close to $600 on her meal plan and then there is the dorm money we will be out. 

I know lots of folks are in this situation.  I know lots of things are up in the air.  But, it is concerning financially.

[Guest]

DD got the robocall this morning. Originally, her campus was trying to leave computer labs, library and support services open for students who needed them. As of today, everything is shut down and online only. Something like 40% of her campus does not have internet at home except for maybe via phone, and public libraries are closed, too. I have no clue how that is going to work for those kids! 

Edited March 22, 2020 by dmmetler