College Reactions to COVID-19
BY BELLE HU '22
STUDENT MOVING: Loading/Unloading 20 Minutes Only. The bolded words catch students’ eyes as they scramble past, hoisting large cardboard boxes. Maybe that bustling week of August has arrived, when college freshmen meet their soon-to-be homes for the very first time. But there is a sense of restlessness, confusion, and anxiety. Uncertainty clogs the air. This is no cheery college orientation week. The announcement that there would be no school the following week--and possibly longer—had recently awakened a sudden unease in students across the nation. In-person classes were canceled. Indefinitely. Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic had already disrupted college life all over America. A week had already passed since they received word that all forthcoming classes would be held online through remote learning. The New York Times reports that the coronavirus death toll has climbed to 114,835 in the United States, and the number of cases exceeds 2 million (click here for the most recent tally). Partially due to the strained medical resources and lack of testing, the unrelenting rise in cases makes it imperative that Americans stay quarantined at home. Thus, colleges justifiably mandated that students evacuate campus as more and more K-12 schools, including those in Massachusetts, extended their closures. Despite their benevolent intentions, colleges seem to be swept up in the hysteria, as most permitted their students less than a week to pack their bags. Furthermore, it appears that after institutions evicted dorm residents, some neglected to provide their students with basic accommodations such as rent relief or a last-minute plane ticket home.
Among the many Ivy League schools thrown into the spotlight, Harvard University seemed to be the most notorious, with its name mentioned in almost every angry newspaper article regarding colleges’ reaction to the pandemic. Harvard sent out an email requiring that all students vacate campus within five days. In theory, this should have provided enough time to pack a suitcase and make a couple phone calls. However, similar announcements from other universities left many students frantically searching for living arrangements. Harvard’s reluctance to provide financial support, despite its $40 billion endowment, applied undue pressure on the students who relied on university housing. For those who could go home, that struggle was brief, but what would happen to those without a way home? Thus emerged the plight of many low-income students as they considered the costs of going home. In particular, international students struggled to afford pricey plane tickets for overseas travel on such short notice. Travel restrictions only complicated matters. A 2019 #RealCollege survey further emphasized the desperate need for housing assistance, as more than half of college students lacked stable housing, 45% of the respondents were food insecure, and 17% were homeless. With no other option, some college students resorted to crashing with strangers, and college groups such as Harvard’s Primus started fundraisers to aid storage and moving costs.
Though Harvard eventually offered financial aid for storage, emergency housing, and transportation, internet access was not included. This omission exposed financial inequities between college students, especially as in-person classes moved towards an online setting. Indeed, virtual learning became a burden for some more than others, highlighting the disparities between university students’ backgrounds. As some students returned to second vacation homes, others returned to stark houses and worked in food trucks to support their families. The dorms’ squeaky beds and mundane rooms were now unable to set students on an equal playing field. Instead, online learning split students into two pronounced groups: those who could smoothly and comfortably transition to the online classroom, and those who were impeded by socio-economic restrictions. Stress increased for students from low-income backgrounds as they confronted their $50,000 student loan debt. Those who needed to attend to family members and international students whose visas prohibited online learning carried another burden. The long list of unaddressed inhibitions only magnified the disparity between the two groups.
Although colleges assert that online learning is fundamentally the same as in-person classes, students tend to disagree. For one, learning at home rather than at college prompts many distractions and fails to motivate students in the same way. Without friendly competition between classmates and friends, many students have complained about the lack of academic rigor in online classes, which fall short of high-quality standards that they paid for. A freshman from Philadelphia’s Drexel University even went as far as to sue the institution, arguing that professors mostly taught through pre-recorded lectures instead of live discussions. In fact, more and more students have complained that professors mostly posted assignments with sparse instructions, creating more confusion than clarity. While some college students must go along with online classes for now, others physically cannot proceed with their learning. For art students, they face a very exclusive challenge of adapting their works to an online setting. Others have struggled as well; for example, a senior engineering student at Purdue University cannot finish constructing an airplane for his senior project. And no matter its proficiency, “Zoom University” is of no help here.
Amid the chaos of online schooling, college responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have largely been met with disapproval for evicting students and leaving them high and dry. The short notice is a frequent complaint, as they should act with more compassion and flexibility in such an unprecedented time. Despite certain efforts to address these grievances, such as Harvard University’s attempt to consider requested exemptions from evacuation, those without a home to return to still found themselves hopeless. Some colleges, such as Cornell University, granted their students two weeks to pack up and leave. Others, however, such as the University of Dayton, were less lenient; they only provided a twenty-three-hour notice. On top of the anxiety over securing housing and transportation, colleges overall needed to grant students more time to adjust.
However, it isn’t too late for colleges to help out and provide more resources for their students. Many college students argue that Zoom lectures are less valuable than in-person classes and demand that colleges refund part of the tuition. In fact, students have grown increasingly impatient with their inability to take advantage of the facilities and opportunities that they paid for. Students have begun to sue colleges including University of Southern California, Brown University, and Boston University.
In all this madness, stability and calm is all the more necessary, but harder to achieve. Among those sulking over a seemingly endless quarantine, many evicted college students bear an even heavier burden due to the lack of resources and direction provided by universities. After many weeks of quarantine and still more to come, we all may be going a little crazy inside. We can only wonder how college students feel, since the pandemic undermined months of hard work, and we can only hope that these bumps in the road will eventually smooth out.
Among the many Ivy League schools thrown into the spotlight, Harvard University seemed to be the most notorious, with its name mentioned in almost every angry newspaper article regarding colleges’ reaction to the pandemic. Harvard sent out an email requiring that all students vacate campus within five days. In theory, this should have provided enough time to pack a suitcase and make a couple phone calls. However, similar announcements from other universities left many students frantically searching for living arrangements. Harvard’s reluctance to provide financial support, despite its $40 billion endowment, applied undue pressure on the students who relied on university housing. For those who could go home, that struggle was brief, but what would happen to those without a way home? Thus emerged the plight of many low-income students as they considered the costs of going home. In particular, international students struggled to afford pricey plane tickets for overseas travel on such short notice. Travel restrictions only complicated matters. A 2019 #RealCollege survey further emphasized the desperate need for housing assistance, as more than half of college students lacked stable housing, 45% of the respondents were food insecure, and 17% were homeless. With no other option, some college students resorted to crashing with strangers, and college groups such as Harvard’s Primus started fundraisers to aid storage and moving costs.
Though Harvard eventually offered financial aid for storage, emergency housing, and transportation, internet access was not included. This omission exposed financial inequities between college students, especially as in-person classes moved towards an online setting. Indeed, virtual learning became a burden for some more than others, highlighting the disparities between university students’ backgrounds. As some students returned to second vacation homes, others returned to stark houses and worked in food trucks to support their families. The dorms’ squeaky beds and mundane rooms were now unable to set students on an equal playing field. Instead, online learning split students into two pronounced groups: those who could smoothly and comfortably transition to the online classroom, and those who were impeded by socio-economic restrictions. Stress increased for students from low-income backgrounds as they confronted their $50,000 student loan debt. Those who needed to attend to family members and international students whose visas prohibited online learning carried another burden. The long list of unaddressed inhibitions only magnified the disparity between the two groups.
Although colleges assert that online learning is fundamentally the same as in-person classes, students tend to disagree. For one, learning at home rather than at college prompts many distractions and fails to motivate students in the same way. Without friendly competition between classmates and friends, many students have complained about the lack of academic rigor in online classes, which fall short of high-quality standards that they paid for. A freshman from Philadelphia’s Drexel University even went as far as to sue the institution, arguing that professors mostly taught through pre-recorded lectures instead of live discussions. In fact, more and more students have complained that professors mostly posted assignments with sparse instructions, creating more confusion than clarity. While some college students must go along with online classes for now, others physically cannot proceed with their learning. For art students, they face a very exclusive challenge of adapting their works to an online setting. Others have struggled as well; for example, a senior engineering student at Purdue University cannot finish constructing an airplane for his senior project. And no matter its proficiency, “Zoom University” is of no help here.
Amid the chaos of online schooling, college responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have largely been met with disapproval for evicting students and leaving them high and dry. The short notice is a frequent complaint, as they should act with more compassion and flexibility in such an unprecedented time. Despite certain efforts to address these grievances, such as Harvard University’s attempt to consider requested exemptions from evacuation, those without a home to return to still found themselves hopeless. Some colleges, such as Cornell University, granted their students two weeks to pack up and leave. Others, however, such as the University of Dayton, were less lenient; they only provided a twenty-three-hour notice. On top of the anxiety over securing housing and transportation, colleges overall needed to grant students more time to adjust.
However, it isn’t too late for colleges to help out and provide more resources for their students. Many college students argue that Zoom lectures are less valuable than in-person classes and demand that colleges refund part of the tuition. In fact, students have grown increasingly impatient with their inability to take advantage of the facilities and opportunities that they paid for. Students have begun to sue colleges including University of Southern California, Brown University, and Boston University.
In all this madness, stability and calm is all the more necessary, but harder to achieve. Among those sulking over a seemingly endless quarantine, many evicted college students bear an even heavier burden due to the lack of resources and direction provided by universities. After many weeks of quarantine and still more to come, we all may be going a little crazy inside. We can only wonder how college students feel, since the pandemic undermined months of hard work, and we can only hope that these bumps in the road will eventually smooth out.
