MANSFIELD, Connecticut — As many college students enter their summer break, college and university leaders are working on plans on how to approach learning come fall semester amid the pandemic.
“Even though there are lot of things we don’t know there are some things that we do know,” University of Connecticut president Thomas C. Katsouleas said.
UConn is not set to make a final decision on the fall semester until June 30.
However the university's board of trustees held a virtual town hall Wednesday to answer questions about how the decision is made and also release what plans could look like.
“We are actually asking the faculty to prepare for the fall semester assuming that their course are going to be fully online.” Katsouleas said.
At the same time, faculty are preparing for in-person classes, as well as hybrid situations.
The decision to go back to traditional classroom settings will be based on things like the prevalence level of COVID, testing, contact tracing, state guidelines, PPE and liability.
Then, there are questions like do students have to pay full tuition if classes go fully remote?
The university says as right now, they are not considering lowering tuition.
“Even if some courses are taught online, in hybrid form or all classes are taught online, the education will be delivered and we’ll do it as high quality as we can,” Executive Vice President for Administration & Chief Financial Officer Scott Jordan said.
What happens if a student is not ready to come back and take a leave of absence?
“If they have a leave of absence longer than six months it may impact the repayment of student loan but other wise it should not affect their eligibility for financial aide,” Division of Enrollment Planning and Management Nathan Fuerst said.
Across the board, multiple universities FOX61 reached out to said in-person classes are ideal, but like UConn are planning for different scenarios.
CSCU which includes 17 community colleges and state universities has not made a decision yet.
Both Wesleyan and Yale University plan to announce by July.
Officials at University of Hartford and Quinnipiac University say they are preparing for fall opening, but the final decision will be driven by guidelines.
“We anticipate returning to in-classroom instruction and on-campus activities this fall, but the final decision will be driven by guidelines from government and health officials to facilitate the safe return to school,” a spokesperson for Quinnipiac University said.
“Planning teams across the University are working through various fall scenarios to thoroughly accommodate the needs of our students, faculty, course types, and program curriculum,” a spokesperson from the University of Hartford said.
For more specific information on the fall semester you can visit each school’s website.