UMass Amherst has informed it's students that it's their choice if they would like to live on campus this coming Fall, despite the fact that most classes will most likely be remote. If students decide to live on campus at UMass, they need to abide by strict rules, social distance, and adhere to Coronavirus testing. The university has about 30,000 students, and of those students, about 23% are out of state students. This decision by UMass Amherst is an interesting one seeing as how other state colleges and universities are also inviting their students back to campus but with that, they are offering some in person classes as well to coincide with the invite.
Kumble Subbaswamy, who is the UMass Amherst chancellor said that a big part of the decision to carry on with remote learning is based on the fact that some faculty and staff are older and may be more at risk for Coronavirus and would be reluctant to teach face-to-face.
For those wondering about tuition, in the case of UMass, students will not be offered a tuition reduction for online learning. With that being the case, would you still choose to enroll in college if you're not physically taking advantage of what the class has to offer in person? I personally would not if it was me and I was facing this obstacle. I understand lots of colleges and universities are taking a huge loss due to COVID-19 and cannot afford to offer tuition reduction, but while that is the case, if I'm going to pay for college, I want the full college experience and I want to be on campus learning, not at home in my bedroom still spending the same amount of money. I think colleges and universities face a big problem here with going out of business because more people are thinking in line with me and are not willing to pay the high expense for a watered down experience. What do you think?
-Producer Lightning