Updated (25 October 2020) in OP: Carolina delayed start of Spring 2021 semester. Your school may do that too

[Lanny]

A couple of days ago, UNC announced the start of the Spring 2021 semester was pushed back to 19 January 2021.  Your school might do that too. For us it's good because DD will have another 13 days at home and when she returns to the USA, the airfare will be lower.   🙂

UNC cancelled "Spring Break" for the Spring 2021 semester, but I believe will have 5 days off (?) during the semester, for "Mental Health" days. 

They will be bringing more students back onto the campus but the dorm space will be very limited because all rooms will be Single Rooms and there will be a lot of demand for those dorm rooms.

UPDATE on 25 October 2020:

On 23 October 2020, Carolina announced that for the Spring 2021 semester, there will be two (2) types of in-person courses and three (3) types of "Online" courses.

They currently have about 1500 students living on campus (including my DD) and will increase that to approximately 3500 students. Everyone will be in a Single Room.

This is a link to an article explaining these things and the COVID-19 testing they will do.

https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2020/10/breaking-spring-update-1023

 

Edited October 25, 2020 by Lanny
Add update on 25 October 2020 to OP

[regentrude]

what is the purpose if pushing back the start of the spring semester? How is that supposed to help? (many schools don't start until after MLK anyway)

[Kassia]

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

what is the purpose if pushing back the start of the spring semester? How is that supposed to help? (many schools don't start until after MLK anyway)

I assumed it was to give more time after the holiday gatherings (Christmas and NYE) for quarantining or limiting exposure and also just to push back from flu season by a bit.  Dd's college was supposed to start a week before MLK day, but is now starting the day after MLK day.  They are not canceling spring break, so the semester will end a week later as well.  I was hoping they would cancel spring break - especially when it seems so many colleges are doing that.

 

 

[RootAnn]

DD's college cancelled spring break & moved back the spring semester start. The kids are pretty upset. I think they would love scattered mental health  (schoolwork catch up) days through the semester, but that isn't what the college implemented.

Classes in the spring are currently even more online (vs. Hybrid or traditional) than this semester according to the schedule posted recently. This has been tough on the students as they were hopeful of more in person (hybrid are better than all-online) classes next semester.

[Lanny]

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

what is the purpose if pushing back the start of the spring semester? How is that supposed to help? (many schools don't start until after MLK anyway)

That gives them almost 2 more weeks for planning.  I believe they cancelled Spring Break because that is a great risk for COVID-19. Cuts down on travel, which is also a risk for COVID-19 but I suspect not as big a risk as it was last March.

[freesia]

Same at ds’s school. 

[Corraleno]

DS's classes will start the week before MLK Day (11th), but the first week is online only, to allow students to quarantine and get tested after returning to campus. After the first week, classes will be a mix of online, hybrid, and in person (the same as fall semester). Spring break was cancelled, 2 "mental health" days were added, and the semester ends the last week of April. This semester (fall), all in-person meetings will end the day before Thanksgiving, then there is a week of online-only classes, and then a week of finals (all of which will be online).

[Another Lynn]

The mental health days are a great idea - I wish more would do that.  I'm hearing from some that mid-terms this semester without a fall break to prepare/recover (depending on the timing) has been tough.  

[Bootsie]

My university was originally supposed to go back in early January but has delayed it until the day after MLK.  We will not have a spring break but will have a Tues-Thurs "rest period during the middle of the semester (what do you think attendance will be in M and Friday classes that week???)

[Bootsie]

2 hours ago, Another Lynn said:

The mental health days are a great idea - I wish more would do that.  I'm hearing from some that mid-terms this semester without a fall break to prepare/recover (depending on the timing) has been tough.  

Am I the only one who went to school in the dark ages before fall break and spring break existed?  The school I attended even met on days like Labor Day.  

[regentrude]

8 hours ago, Kassia said:

I assumed it was to give more time after the holiday gatherings (Christmas and NYE) for quarantining or limiting exposure and also just to push back from flu season by a bit. 

But won't college students stay at home until classes resume? Pushing back makes sense if the students are required to return to campus two weeks early and quarantine in their dorm rooms during that time. Otherwise, they'll just socialize during their break at home and bring the germs from their communities to campus two weeks later.

As for flu season, I can't see how that would help, since flu season extends far into March.

[regentrude]

13 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

My university was originally supposed to go back in early January but has delayed it until the day after MLK.  We will not have a spring break but will have a Tues-Thurs "rest period during the middle of the semester (what do you think attendance will be in M and Friday classes that week???)

that sounds ridiculous. Then they may not travel, but party Tue through Thurs.

[regentrude]

7 hours ago, Lanny said:

That gives them almost 2 more weeks for planning. 

Planning what?

 

[Bootsie]

1 minute ago, regentrude said:

that sounds ridiculous. Then they may not travel, but party Tue through Thurs.

Yes, I don't know who came up with that idea.  Even a four day weekend "Thursday-Sunday" I think would have been better.  And the way our provost keeps changing things--I am still not counting on that being what we do.  Our deadline for spring schedules was three weeks ago--and it has already changed a number of times  

Our original schedule had been for a very short semester break compared to any other year, so once they removed spring break taking those days off of the beginning of the semester rather than the end makes sense.  

[Bootsie]

9 minutes ago, regentrude said:

Planning what?

 

Maybe they think it is one more week to plan for the vaccine we will soon have???  (Personally, I am not counting on any such vaccine available anytime soon.)

[EKS]

10 hours ago, regentrude said:

what is the purpose if pushing back the start of the spring semester?

My son's school (UW Madison) did this too.  My understanding is that they wanted to eliminate spring break.  

[MerryAtHope]

My daughter school was already starting the 19th, but they eliminated spring break and will finish the semester a week earlier.

[regentrude]

6 hours ago, EKS said:

My son's school (UW Madison) did this too.  My understanding is that they wanted to eliminate spring break.  

Eliminating Spring break makes sense, but I still don't understand why they have to shift the start date to do so and can't simply be done earlier. 

[regentrude]

7 hours ago, Bootsie said:

Maybe they think it is one more week to plan for the vaccine we will soon have???  (Personally, I am not counting on any such vaccine available anytime soon.)

Bahaha. Seeing what an abysmal job the US has done with the Covid test availability, it'll take a year to widely deploy the vaccine once it exists.

[Kassia]

This is one of our state universities - eliminating spring break, but adding "wellness days" sprinkled throughout the semester along with grading options.  

 

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/bgsu-cancels-2021-spring-break-and-offers-revised-grading-options/512-16ac3b99-8d33-428b-8dd7-a7db03d61da5?fbclid=IwAR2eoncEkbxbFdxCDUDiJL3PssEGAThr-id9SQH8M-7OlI3QzgJ2igHmkdg

[Lanny]

12 hours ago, regentrude said:

Planning what?

 

Possibly whether to resume some in-person classes for the Undergraduate students?    Or to move from "Online" which is what they are doing now, to "Hybrid"?    Also I think it will give them more time to plan about testing for COVID-19 on a regular basis and have that in place.    I think all of this is hoping to reduce  cases of COVID-19

I read the sub Reddit for UNC and someone indicated s/he thinks there are approximately 1200 students living in dorms now and that they want to bring that up to about 3900, with everyone in Private rooms.  A way to begin to repopulate the campus gradually and hope and pray there are no outbreaks of COVID-19?

[EKS]

9 hours ago, regentrude said:

Eliminating Spring break makes sense, but I still don't understand why they have to shift the start date to do so and can't simply be done earlier. 

Maybe to have one fewer week of winter at school?  I'm talking about Wisconsin here.  Or to keep the graduation ceremony the same distance from the last day of school?  

[Bootsie]

10 hours ago, regentrude said:

Eliminating Spring break makes sense, but I still don't understand why they have to shift the start date to do so and can't simply be done earlier. 

We were originally scheduled to begin classes Jan 11--which means students travelling back the first week in January; maybe the idea is to add another week between New Years Eve partying and getting people back to campus.  I prefer the week delay, because I did not like starting and then immediately having a three day weekend for MLK; I invariably teach a Monday night class that would miss the second week of the semester because of the holiday.  

[Arch at Home]

My DD1's school came out that they were also delaying the entire semester by a week and it would now be starting on February 8. Juniors and Seniors plus a list of others are invited to be on campus. Instruction will be remote, hybrid, and in-person with the upperclassmen having at 50% of their classes hybrid/in-person. They are retaining 7-week, 2 class-term arrangement with a one week on-campus break between terms. 

The President, who is a public health MD, attributed the delay due to winter COVID predictions. We are still waiting for arrival schedule. We are in a COVID red state and I could see DD1 reporting 2 weeks ahead to quaratine.