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A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

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Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#61

Post by dba7dba »

nprz wrote: post #19

CFR for those aged 60 or greater is at 6.4%[0]. And of course an even larger percentage will end up hospitalized. How many professors are in that high risk demographic? Class is just supposed to go on while professors inevitably fall ill, become hospitalized and die? [0] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3...

I would think many professors will ask for remote teaching option even if campuses reopen? With office hours held outdoors?

I am a product of University of California system and many of my lower level classes had hundreds or students. I barely got to see the professor up close so maybe this remote video teaching may even been a better option. :)

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#62

Post by drfuchs »

downerending wrote: post #5

I feel bad for the colleges. But anyone in their right mind that's going to college to learn things will take a gap year. Those going to college just for the paper are well advised to keep going. The next couple of years will be easy mode, for sure. You get an A, and you get an A--everyone gets an A!

If all the incoming freshmen take a gap year, then the following year there would be a double-sized freshman class. That wouldn’t work so well. And 4 years later, would the university have to admit a double-sized class again in order to keep a relatively constant number of students enrolled?

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#63

Post by saagarjha »

downerending wrote: post #5

I feel bad for the colleges. But anyone in their right mind that's going to college to learn things will take a gap year. Those going to college just for the paper are well advised to keep going. The next couple of years will be easy mode, for sure. You get an A, and you get an A--everyone gets an A!

> You get an A, and you get an A--everyone gets an A!

My friends who are currently in college tell me that they’re currently dying under a massive workload as teachers fail to realize that “remote learning” does not mean you can assign hundreds of pages of reading “to fill up free time”. Those that are from other countries really dislike waking up at 3 AM to take synchronized online quizzes…it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#64

Post by saagarjha »

CuriousCosmic wrote: post #11
downerending wrote: post #5

I feel bad for the colleges. But anyone in their right mind that's going to college to learn things will take a gap year. Those going to college just for the paper are well advised to keep going. The next couple of years will be easy mode, for sure. You get an A, and you get an A--everyone gets an A!

If you are relying on scholarships to afford university, this is not an option. If you break full time status you essentially forfeit all of your scholarships and it is very unlikely you will get them back.

Depends on the scholarship, but very few will pay during the gap year.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#65

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

It was announced today that experts are already doubting the possibility of hosting the Tokyo Olympics even in the summer of 2021, because a vaccine may not be available or widely applied then. I suspect we are going to see a new wave of cancellations of things we initially thought might resume by the end of 2020 or mid-2021. I don’t know if this will affect enrollment of local students who wouldn't have to travel to campus, but the conference side of academia may be disrupted, i.e. everything which was scheduled for 2020 and was recently postponed to 2021, may not happen even then. Expect a lot of complaining from academics about this being a lost two years (at least) for them in terms of in-person networking and career advancement.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#66

Post by saagarjha »

baggy_trough wrote: post #18
nradov wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Engineers are worthless if they can't communicate effectively and don't understand the context of their work.

Humanities departments emit some of the most cryptic texts around. They should be worrying about that before trying to help engineers.

Perhaps if you took the time to learn the humanities, they’d become more accessible to you? It’s not like engineering texts are the paragon of clarity.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#67

Post by fellow_colleger »

jackson1442 wrote: post #58
nn35 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take a gap year and do what, exactly? Sitting around your parents' house for a year is probably worse than getting the coronavirus, for an 18 year old. Maybe much worse.

As an 18-year-old, exactly this. Even with the lackluster online classes I am getting, sitting at home is unproductive, uninteresting, and just mentally exhausting. The primary thing I looked forward to in college is independence. Even if my parents completely laid off for the year, I would still feel judged for every decision I made.

You could work on personal projects. I am a college student too, currently at my parent's home and writing a experimental debugger. Under the usual workload, it's hard to find free time like this; everyone should use this opportunity to better themselves (unless they are impacted directly by the virus, or ciritically affected by the economic downturn).

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#68

Post by WalterBright »

klodolph wrote: post #49
ColanR wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> providing the minimum level of work necessary Is that how you measure the value of the business?

Obviously not—it’s not the amount of work done, but the value which the work provides. Landlords contribute a small amount of value relative to how much they are paid, compared to other businesses. Most of the value is provided by the land itself, and the landlords merely have a monopoly on it. So I am less inclined to be sympathetic to PMCs which are suddenly being paid less, since they are generally overpaid. We ha…

If PMCs are overpaid, then the property owners wouldn't employ them. And if landlords didn't do much work, property owners wouldn't pay PMCs to do that work for them.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#69

Post by klodolph »

alexbanks wrote: post #52
klodolph wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This depends on the jurisdiction and the terms of the lease. Most places in the US, there are very few ways to break a lease without a clause in the contract allowing it. For example, in New York, if you break a lease the landlord is obligated to make a “reasonable effort” to re-rent the apartment. You are still on the hook in the interim. In the current environment, the apartment probably won’t be re-rented.

Saying anything other than "It depends on the lease" isn't really valuable, so that's what I'll respond with. It depends on the lease.

Yes, that is the problem I had with your original comment.

But the jurisdiction is also important, not just the terms of the lease.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#70

Post by hanniabu »

saagarjha wrote: post #63
downerending wrote: post #5

I feel bad for the colleges. But anyone in their right mind that's going to college to learn things will take a gap year. Those going to college just for the paper are well advised to keep going. The next couple of years will be easy mode, for sure. You get an A, and you get an A--everyone gets an A!

> You get an A, and you get an A--everyone gets an A! My friends who are currently in college tell me that they’re currently dying under a massive workload as teachers fail to realize that “remote learning” does not mean you can assign hundreds of pages of reading “to fill up free time”. Those that are from other countries really dislike waking up at 3 AM to take synchronized online quizzes…it’s not all sunshine and…

Yup, aside from the current situation there's total a classic issue of a teacher not realizing they're not the only class being taken, let alone any remorse for those that also have jobs, kids, or any other type of responsibility.
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