As the official death toll in the United States continues to rise amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, some college students are still eager to get back to in-person classes in the fall. According to a recent poll from Axios/College Reaction conducted May 8-10, 65% of polled college students said they would return for in-person classes in the fall, as first covered by Axios. The surrounding details for that number are important: These students would be willing to return to class even without a vaccine, and even without a cure. Just over 30% of polled students responded that, without a vaccine or cure, they would return to school virtually, but not in person. Just under 5% say they would withdraw from school.
As Daily Kos previously covered, we know that many students felt devastated when campuses began to shutter in March and April. Closing schools was particularly stressful for students who couldn’t easily relocate off-campus, whether because of border closings, expensive moves, or simply not having another place to go on such short notice. Some schools, like Amherst College, allowed students with extenuating circumstances to remain on campus, albeit with reduced amenities and no visitors. Others, like Liberty University, allowed students to come back to campus after leaving for spring break, much to the horror of many in the local community, where health care is limited.
What might drive students to be so eager to return to school? The rationale might be similar to what many people who are already itching to go to beaches, parks, or even restaurants and salons might be craving: a return to “normal” life, or a chance to resume life as planned. While understandable, that rationale, of course, doesn’t make it actually safe to do so. It also doesn’t make it likely to happen.
For example, we know the California state university system is going virtual for the fall semester. Some students, like Harvard undergraduates, are petitioning to have the semester delayed instead of a virtual alternative. While the quality of education of course varies, professors and faculty having to transition to online-only courses may result in classes that feel far too expensive for what students are actually gaining. 81% of students polled said colleges should reduce tuition costs, even by just 5%.
There’s also the reality that students may simply feel too distracted to focus well on coursework if they’re living in a temporary situation, back at home, or are trying to work and compensate for lost income during the pandemic. After all, 71% of students in this data poll alone say that when they’ve continued with classes at home, they’ve become distracted by their phones or home life. Nearly half say they “attend” class left often. Some students, too, may want to return to college to escape unhappy or downright unsafe situations at home, as some LGBTQ students have expressed.
“This idea that we can somehow just get back to normal and go back to school in the fall because we always have is not reasonable actually,” Nicholas Christakis, a physician at Yale University told NPR in an interview. He added that schools are “going to have to figure out other ways of doing this.”