Coronavirus in Massachusetts (leases, student loans, designer)

[mdovell]

Sort of better news but Trump backed off that student issue. That should relieve some issues.

But I do have to say Amherst has a point.

https://www.masslive.com/news/2020/0...-pandemic.html

So let me get this right. Students are wanted back to the dorms ONLY as they'll be no real events actually on campus. So they are taking classes online while in dorms. OK but from what the town itself says is that if there's no events on campus to go to they'll probably risk doing things outside of it which of course puts pressure on the town and region. We're talking about an enrollment not of thousands but tens of thousands. They have at least 28,000 students. The impact of having 28,000 people in the region is very significant and if it doesn't have to happen I'm surprised many haven't come out to say just have them take it online.

No one has actually said what specifically students will do if they aren't really supposed to be on campus and they are only taking classes online. I'm not putting down their dorms but outside of dorm fees the economic benefits are pretty slim here folks. They aren't going to take a b line to the holyoke mall or take a road trip to Burlington VT.

The other thing I was thinking of is how many parents are simply going to drop off their sick kids with covid to school? I don't mean high school or jr high level but younger. To many people schools are baby sitters. If that's the mentality I doubt they'd care if the kid is sick. After all if the death rate is nearly 0 then there's no negative repercussions vs trying to make online school work.I would not want to be teaching early ed this fall that's for sure.

[Bridge781]

It makes no sense to me why someone would live on campus to take online courses unless they are looking to still heave the college experience which involves partying and people shouldn’t be doing that. Colleges want their money but they’re kind of encouraging the spread by having kids on campus to take online courses. Do they really think they’re going to sit in their rooms and follow the rules?

[Bridge781]

If someone’s kid has covid I’d hope they’d be concerned and not just drop them off at school and head to work. The problem is I think it will be difficult to decipher the difference between a cold, flu or corona. So basically if a kid has a runny nose or is coughing they’ll need to be tested. If schools do open I would think things will need to be very strict. Possibly no runny noses allowed at all. It will be difficult and lots of parents are idiots which is reason schools may be closed for the fall.

[rach5]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

Numbers look very good again today, and like perhaps they are continuing downward.

Promising news on the Moderna vaccine.

Stock market rallied in the afternoon.

I should probably shut this thing off for the rest of the month.

RI is ticking up and we've been a bit ahead of MA in terms of reopening. Don't celebrate too soon.

[Bridge781]

Yeah I thought there was a slight uptick last week in MA

[porterhouse]

If you understood the context of the end of the message, nobody is celebrating.

[Bridge781]

Will life ever be normal again ? I’m not holding my breath that the vaccine will be helpful. I get the flu shot every year and I had what appeared to be a form of flu this past January along with my family who had flu shots as well. 36 hours of torture.

[charolastra00]

I work at a university that will be mostly online but is opening up residence halls for any student. There are lots of reasons why people want to stay in the dorms even with online classes: nowhere safe to go, crowded home life, potentially getting stuck as a fill-in babysitter for younger siblings if the schools go remote, no wifi at home, suffering from the mental health impacts on isolation, and reliant on on-campus jobs, to name a few. College students in the US face a very high level of food and housing insecurity, with only 39% of 4 year students last summer saying they had "no insecurity": https://www.aacu.org/aacu-news/newsl...-insecurity-or Housing students on campus helps they make use of their financial aid to be secure in ways that might not be possible at home, if they have a home. I work at an expensive, elite private school and one of the things that keeps coming up is that when students dropped off the radar in March, we often found out they were homeless, had no wifi at home, or were working to support their families. It's way more common than you'd think, sadly.



That's to say nothing of access to the library (even with online classes) and research opportunities on campus.



It's not ideal for anyone. We are strongly encouraging local students to commute if possible. Many students who have other options are so turned off by the 14 day state quarantine that they're staying online.



Just because classes are online doesn't mean there will be no social life on campus. It will just look different. We are doing some long term rentals on tents to go around campus and will add heaters when the weather gets cold and just hope for the best for a vaccine, treatment, or divine intervention before spring semester. There will be lots of outdoor movies, dances, and socially distanced crafts. Even if classes are online, there will be in-person components on-campus if people are nearby and want to attend. We're also organizing social events around the world in areas where there are hubs of students.



Also remember that most local colleges have housed some number of students since March. About 10% of our on-campus population remained due to difficulties returning home as international students, nowhere safe to return to, or other issues. We're still housing them now, though many have taken advantage of furnished sublets near campus.



Keep in mind that even if no one was housed on campus, plenty of students would choose to stay in off-campus apartments. Better try to keep students on campus with organized activities that are as safe as possible, plus with the benefit of twice weekly testing.


There are really no good answers. Colleges are in a particularly difficult situation all around.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by rach5

RI is ticking up and we've been a bit ahead of MA in terms of reopening. Don't celebrate too soon.

I looked at RI's data and it still looks like flat and not ticking up.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

I should probably shut this thing off for the rest of the month.

I've pondered that a few times myself