Gap year or deferral during COVID-19? The good, the bad, and the ugly??

cherlyhans,

Funny, you bring this up.   My wife and I were walking the dog last night and ran into some friends of ours.   After talking to them, we were wondering what their senior high school son was going to do this Fall given the Covid-19 situation.    There is a rumor one of our major state universities ( in Virginia) is considering digital-classes only for the upcoming Fall.   I don't know if this is a contingency plan or a real plan, but given the situation (no vaccine) it seems pretty real given the potential health concerns of many young people in a small space at a very large University.   So, my wife and I were spit-balling that we'd probably have our kids get some classes/credits at the local community college (much less expensive than state university) this Summer and Fall then transfer those credits to the state university when it opens its doors for good.   Two of my kids went to state schools, so we know that wouldn't have been a problem for them.  However, my oldest son went to a private University in upstate NY, and they wouldn't transfer all of his high school dual enrollment classes.   

Just an idea.   Best of luck!

If you and everyone else take a gap year (and I agree that that is a possibility), then the college may well be out of business before he decides to go back.  It's a terrible situation, there are no parallels in the past.

I wonder about this for my current freshman.  But, what would he do if he wasn't in school?  Play video games all day?  There are no jobs.  At least with online classes, he is making progress toward his degree.  Whether it's worth paying full freight for distance learning is a difficult problem, though.

I am counting on a semi-opening up in the summer, that proves not to be terrible, and then the hope of a vaccine, to get colleges through this.

I would have him take a few gen-ed classes at local JUCO, he works out every day in the yard (batting, lifting, band work, throwing), and he did have a part-time job before all of this, which he was furloughed, so he can go back as soon as they reopen and start earning more $$ towards his tuition.  

cherlyhans,  you are not alone.  There's a Facebook parents group for my son's D3 and this is a hot topic. The incoming freshman parents are devastated  by their children's inability to enjoy their HS senior years and concerned about losing the college freshman experience. Lots of current student parents say their kids aren't getting much from the online learning environment.  One said it's the first time she heard her son say he hated school.

My only advice is the old adage "hope for the best and prepare for the worst". That's what we need to be doing as families, and that's what the schools are doing. The financial implications for even well-endowed schools are going to be severe if they do not open in the fall, so I think we may see some really out-of-the box solutions put forward by many schools in terms of how classes are conducted, living arrangements, dining, and even finances.  I think most will open in the fall. But we have to be prepared for the possibility that they may close again at some point.

Anotherparent has a good point about the gap year's effect on the school. But what does a gap year look like now? Jobs and foreign adventures are probably off the table. Juco sounds like a good option, but some schools may defend their income by saying that students who don't matriculate  in 2020 will need to reapply if  want to start in 2021.

Obviously we'll need a vaccine before very large collections of people -- like a college -- will be safe.  But that's probably doing to be at least until fall 2021.  Hopefully before then there will be effective therapies, and the ability to test everyone repeatedly in that kind of environment. That's probably the only way to make it work.

Universities are considering different options. One idea that’s been tossed around is only having student athletes return in the fall. Everyone else is off campus doing online classes. 

Any traction for testing kids who want to be on campus; especially with the rapid result tests?  Restrict their movements as much as possible and retest if you go off campus, ie. play a game off campus or coming back from breaks.  I see that school employees are an issue with their coming and going daily, but we have to appreciate that young, healthy people are not the at risk population in this situation, yet they are paying some of the higher penalties in trying to stem the spread of the virus (all do respect to our small business owners).  Just a thought.

Cherlyhans - I have a son who's a senior in HS and is going to play D3 baseball as well.  If his college goes to remote learning in the fall we will likely bite the bullet and pay the tuition to get him started.  You won't have to pay room and board etc but I agree that online learning is just not the same experience.  My son's good friend, however, is strongly considering a gap year and taking transferable classes.  He is going to a HA D3 (NESCAC). That is very tricky though too.   That requires a class dean or the like approving these classes to ensure they are transferrable.   Not sure how you do that but maybe you need to talk to the registrar to figure out if it's possible to take a gap year, take classes at another institution and have them transfer.  I suspect there is a way.

I really do feel for high school seniors; you don't get that year back, no matter what anyone does.  The uncertainty makes everything worse right now; I hope we have more answers in a month's time, it feels like forever, though.

The only ray of hope I have is that with H1N1 in 2009, the group at highest risk was, in fact, college-age students, and there were fatalities.  They did not shut colleges down during that one, there was just a lot of sanitizer, signs for handwashing, ramped-up student health, etc.  I'm hopeful they will be able to dust off those protocols, keep the more at-risk college employees and students safe, accomodate sick students, and go back in the fall.  But, who really knows? 

This is a very good question. 

To answer the question as simply as possible...If everything was remote in the fall I would try to defer enrollment to the spring. If they gave me a hard time I would likely cite financial hardship or say something about wanting to find myself, that the virus made me reflect and want to travel the world. If you give a good enough reason they will let it slide, especially if it involves making their students more well rounded. 

I would then enroll in a local community college and work a part time job. If I had to ditch the D3 altogether I believe saving the money would be worth the cost of finding a new school. Juco is never a bad option to begin with and frankly I don't think it gets pushed enough by high schools, but that is a different conversation. The online learning program is not going to be any better at the D3 than it will be the juco. Save the money, explain the situation to the coach - I'm sure he will understand. 

The only thing that would make me stay is some sort of academic money because it might be lost down the road, but other than that I really can't think of another reason to stay. 

Wow - I have been so focused on the baseball side of things that I hadn't thought about how academics might be affected.  My son is getting a nice chunk of baseball money, but my contribution is still significant.  And I really don't want it to go to remote learning.

Wm. Roots, Jr. posted:

Any traction for testing kids who want to be on campus; especially with the rapid result tests?  Restrict their movements as much as possible and retest if you go off campus, ie. play a game off campus or coming back from breaks.  I see that school employees are an issue with their coming and going daily, but we have to appreciate that young, healthy people are not the at risk population in this situation, yet they are paying some of the higher penalties in trying to stem the spread of the virus (all do respect to our small business owners).  Just a thought.

Few problems that I see;

- testing is STILL not widely available. My wife works in a large ER, and she can't get tested unless she shows obvious symptoms. A world where testing is available for college baseballs, and not just once, but multiple times, seems farfetched right now. 

- testing is not always accurate. Serology is even worse in that regard, though there is hope in the future that a reliable test will be available that will indicate whether or not someone has had the virus. 

- Young adults might not be at risk(though there are always exceptions). How about Umpires(definitely an aging population), coaches, admins, profs(definitely older)and fans? 

- different areas of the country will have different approaches. Those in the Northeast will be justifiably spooked, and overly cautious. Idaho, not so much. 

   I would beg to differ that young adults are paying a high price relative to others in society. Those in health care, some essential services(cops, fire, EMS, Bus drivers,etc..)and older people in Care homes(to name just a few) face harrowing situations right now. A 19yo not being able to play baseball for a year or two is not a hardship relative to what is going on in the world, IMO, but we all have our own opinions.

I do have sympathy for kids losing out on some good times and memories. But there have already been some and there will be many more in the future.

Randy Pausch, engineer and public speaker when he was getting his PhD whined to his mother his thesis and finals were stressful. His mother responded. “I can imagine how you feel. When your father was your age he was fighting the Germans.”

If colleges decide early that they are going to be online, I agree, a lot of them will not be there the next year, or will cut non revenue sports.  A local private D2 announced yesterday that they are permanently cutting 6 out of 16 sports and converting them to club.  I assume deposits for next year's enrollment are down.  Especially private or pricey schools will have a lot to justify as to why someone should spend a lot of money to take class online when they can get the same classes online at a community college.  

D1 conferences are making appeals to the NCAA to change how many athletic programs you need to stay qualified, and stay in compliance with Title IX.  Some have already cut. There is already talk of cutting out conference series as well as conference championships, which would save the NCAA money.