I'm thinking a lot lately about what "socially distanced" college really looks like this fall.
I'm reconciled to $26k+ tuition for the semester to get credits toward graduation. A discount would be logical, but I'm not holding my breath. But what do my kids get for another $8k+ for room and board to live on campus for less than three months?
From my kids' perspective, getting away from mom and dad is all-important. How they will feel after a few weeks of dining hall take-out (no salad bars or the lavish spreads schools offer these days) and spending a lot of time in their dorm rooms?
Large classes will meet remotely--just like being at home. Smaller classes also may be online-only; or may meet in person some of the time and online at others (hybrid model). When you are in class, you will be masked and sitting apart from others in a room designed to hold a much larger group. Labs and other hands-on work will be in person (though masked and distanced)--and that may be the deciding factor. But much of the time--maybe most, or all of the time--students will be taking classes on their laptop even when on campus. (Purely anecdotally: a prof I know who initially was going to teach in-person just switched to online-only. If the stats keep looking bad, some classes your student thinks are in-person may switch to online. Again, just an anecdote--fwiw.)
Academics could be impacted beyond classes, too. Your kid's advisor or a faculty member he needs to work with may not be on campus if they are at-risk--in which case meetings will be via Zoom, same as if your student were living in another state. The school my son is entering this fall has announced that research opportunities will be closed to freshmen this fall--not great news for a Chemistry major.
At some schools, only certain students will even be allowed on campus--no sophs or jrs at Harvard, for example (although they may end up exempting athletes). Other students will choose not to be on campus. There may be fall baseball workouts of some kind. But for baseball and for dozens of student organizations, including fraternities and sororities, large numbers of students likely will be missing. And for those students who are there, meetings/gatherings will allow limited numbers of attendees and require physical distancing--or will just be on Zoom. No concerts. No large lectures by visiting VIPs. No movies or plays. No crowds for sporting events, no pep rallies. No festivals or traditions that involve large groups.
As I said before, the only way this scenario seems appealing (aside from getting away from one's parents) is if you assume the rules against socializing won't be strictly applied. On the other hand, gap year options aren't so great either in a world with limited travel and employment options. Maybe being on campus is the least-worst choice. Maybe.