# What will college be like in the fall? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [April 10, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479 "2020-04-10T03:09:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479/21 "2020-04-11T01:37:41Z")
Word from our union meeting today was about anticipating staff/faculty cuts, pay cuts, and furloughs for fall. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479/22 "2020-04-11T01:50:10Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > The university where I teach has gone all-online for the remainder of the Spring semester. All undergraduate courses will be graded Pass/Fail, while graduate courses (which have been offered online for a long time) will remain letter graded. > > We are assuming Summer courses will also be online, at least at first. But we are planning the Fall 2020 semester as if it will be a return to normalcy. Of course nobody knows if that will happen and we’re all prepared for it not to, but that is the official word so far. Our younger son’s college gives the option of pass/fail, and they have until pretty late in the semester to decide. He thinks his grades won’t hurt his GPA (which is way, way higher than his high school GPA ever was), so he’s not going pass/fail. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479/23 "2020-04-11T02:11:21Z")
I works at a college. First of all, most students were sent acceptances before the quarantine. I’m figuring the number who will send in deposits will be a lower percentage than usual, as people are unemployed (though historically, a bad economy boosts attendance). At this point, the fall classes are still scheduled as usual. Our summer courses will be online, but several were going to be that way, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479/24 "2020-04-11T03:18:11Z")
Those of you who had kids at college and living in dorms or apartments. Did you get any of your deposit or rent back? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479/25 "2020-04-11T03:43:22Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I works at a college. You did that on purpose, didn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479/26 "2020-04-11T04:14:03Z")
I will be surprised if the fall is normal. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479/27 "2020-04-11T04:43:36Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Question: How did your college handle times when when an infectious disease was going around and students needed to be isolated? I remember just the regular flu at The University of Kansas where dozens of students had it and had to be put into special living arrangements and have all their class materials sent to them. > > Congratulations on getting all the material online. My wife is a high school teacher and has had to do much of the same. At the boarding school, each dorm is small and subdivided into small apartments with 4 or 6 students each. Historically when some sickness was spreading through the population they made one of the dorms “sick bay” and moved everyone who wasn’t sick to other dorms temporarily. Medical staff would check on the sick ones a couple times a day and meals would get delivered rather than having the students come to the dining hall. The students had video games and didn’t have to attend class, so they were always ok with this setup. On campus there are no dorms so it was never an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479/28 "2020-04-11T04:46:05Z")
Not without a vaccine ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479/29 "2020-04-11T07:39:56Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Those of you who had kids at college and living in dorms or apartments. > Did you get any of your deposit or rent back? Daughter, in a dorm at a small liberal arts college, got around $3000 back Son, in an off-campus apartment, mid-size university in a big city, got no rent back. Fortunately he’s still getting paid around $400/month for his school work-study job even though he’s not working. Students living on campus and paying for meal plan did get a refund, maybe $2000 or so. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479/30 "2020-04-11T14:04:05Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Those of you who had kids at college and living in dorms or apartments. > Did you get any of your deposit or rent back? At our son’s college there’s a choice of getting a partial refund for room and board or having the balance applied to fall semester. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479/31 "2020-04-11T14:56:41Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Those of you who had kids at college and living in dorms or apartments. > Did you get any of your deposit or rent back? I haven’t heard yet. I’m glad you ask, because now I’m motivated to go check into it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-college-be-like-in-the-fall/851479.md?page=1)