Oh wow that does suck.We still got 10 months on the off campus housing lease even though my sons university shut down after 1 week of in person.
How ya think I feel?
I've emailed about this, and my academic advisor and head of school aren't replying to emails until the semester starts, which is the end of the month.Have you thought about taking a gap year and possibly resuming your studies next fall?
Well that and getting 9 grand plus maintenance loan in the hole for.... sitting at home.OP, I feel you're not being unreasonable. You're paying full tuition and you expect to receive an academic education on par with what you're paying.
I do think you're being a bitselfishshortsighted, though. 2020 has been a shit year for everyone and everyone has something to complain about. If your main issue is that you have to stay at home to study, well, count your blessings.
So how many staff should they fire to lower tuition fees then?
Because that's the only option with real wiggle room. Presumably they're going to want the buildings when this is all over, so they can't sell them, after all.
Everyone, at least at decent universities, is working really hard to try and make this work, and nobody asked for the pandemic to ruin everything
I've emailed about this, and my academic advisor and head of school aren't replying to emails until the semester starts, which is the end of the month.
Well that and getting 9 grand plus maintenance loan in the hole for.... sitting at home.
If I were still in school, I'd fucking take this year off. No way I'd pay full tuition for what should be half or less.
That's exactly what we were told. We were told we'd have a blended mix, some stuff on campus, some online, and only today were we told it's all online for the whole year.OP, I understand your point of view, but you should realise that unfortunately, UK unis are now businesses and the education industry is operating in the red.
My wife is a lecturer at a UK university. She's been trying to cope with the university's unwillingness to change things during the pandemic, and was only told 3 weeks ago that the entire first semester will be online-only - she now has to create videos of her lectures, edit them herself, and constantly be available to answer emails from students with poor English, instead of taking questions during the lecture and have a couple of office hours during the week,as was normal.
On top of it, the university is not paying her more for the extra work and they have not decided if they will even give her a laptop to record the videos. She's expected to use her own equipment.
icing on the cake - the university is lying to prospective students (or keeping it vague) that online classes and on-site classes will be 50-50 for the first semester, because they fear people will simply defer for next year, and the uni will struggle financially.
I'm telling you, stuff's strange af currently.
Sadly, most universities are already getting devastated by the pandemic. Trying to provide the same level of education while setting up an online or mixed semester is devastating to the budget. It's understandable to be frustrated by this since this mess is no fun for anyone. However, the thing students have to keep in mind is that they aren't getting less of a higher education experience, they are getting a different experience.I'd say it's not unreasonable for you to be annoyed but it's also not unreasonable for public universities to be less able to be flexible. There are a lot of fixed costs in the institution. And online teaching is largely harder on the teachers themselves.
Thing is if they had to charge less and fire a ton of staff and cut things then guess what, your next semesters and years you'd be taking classes at a decimated school.
So how many staff should they fire to lower tuition fees then?
Because that's the only option with real wiggle room. Presumably they're going to want the buildings when this is all over, so they can't sell them, after all.
Everyone, at least at decent universities, is working really hard to try and make this work, and nobody asked for the pandemic to ruin everything
I was never living on campus anyway, so just tutition.wait are they charging you for room and board still? or just tuition?
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I think this depends. A credit hour is a credit hour and credit hours have been offered in a variety of ways beyond in-person for decades now even at reputable schools. It may not be ideal, but ultimately, you'd be making progress towards a degree, which is what was promised out of paying that base tuition fee. And of course there are exceptions there too such as labs or courses where in-person/hands-on is absolutely necessary. Where instead either the course isn't offered for this semester or it's offered in-person.
There are even a number of campus services that are still operating, but in a different capacity or delivery format. So some campus services are still functioning even if you're doing it in a virtual format. Writing support, tutoring, etc. Now of course there are also other things where it is impossible to do at a distance. For stuff like that, yeah standard fees should be reduced or eliminated.
But a discount on the actual tuition? Don't really agree there.
Maybe I am using tuition the wrong way. I'm talking about like campus resources such as libraries, computers or other equipment, work space, etcetera. Not sure what those costs are bundled into. I don't think the actual education itself should be discounted per se, but are those resources not bundled into the cost of tuition? What happens to students who don't have reasonable access to those things at home?I mean, it fucking sucks for the students, but none of the costs have really gone anywhere. The really major costs like staff wages and building rent probably haven't changed at all.
A reduction in tuition would mean universities need to fire staff members and push the existing work on who is left. Quite a few UK universities have already pushed for "voluntary" redundancies quite hard this year already. Not to mention the online teaching means staff have already been having to work harder this year than a normal one.
I was worried that could be my university, as they've promised that, but then I realised that could be almost any university in the UK!icing on the cake - the university is lying to prospective students (or keeping it vague) that online classes and on-site classes will be 50-50 for the first semester, because they fear people will simply defer for next year, and the uni will struggle financially.
The problem with the "take a year off" plan is some schools anticipated that and stressed that if you skipped a year you'd have to re-apply. So, yeah...
Wow, that really sucks too. Thats not small change.The problem with the "take a year off" plan is some schools anticipated that and stressed that if you skipped a year you'd have to re-apply. So, yeah...
Here's my tale of woe. Parent of a Junior at a public university and a second year Masters at a private university. Both delayed their decision so late that they got leases. One is still living at the apartment but could just as easily be home, costing about $5,000 this semester. The other is living here at home, costing about $6,000 this semester on a room she'll never live in or visit (it is a rented room in D.C., we're in NC). Add on top of that his tuition ($5,000-ish including fees for gyms not being used, teams not competing, etc.) and hers at $20,000 I'm out ~$35,000 this semester with neither kid getting a great experience. It sucks, but at least we're all healthy so there's that. In the case of the Masters student it really sucks because the summer between the years was supposed to be research but they had to cancel that and do a "critical peer review" in its place. Additionally, they're having to delay Fall labs until Spring, which will make her final semester packed. Nobody is yet talking about what will happen if Spring is online only -- they'll have to figure something out because there is no way in Hell they are getting a fifth semester of tuition out of me.
Yep, I think that they are doing that is bullcrap. Is it normally like that with gap years or is this them reacting to the virus and trying to head off a mass exodus until things return to normal?Yup. I'm in my final year and in addition to having to reapply, I would lose all my academic scholarships.
Everyone is taking a bite of the 2020 shit sandwich. This is just yours.
Just so I'm clear, are you saying education isn't incredibly overpriced and the thousands to tens of thousands a year each student is charged are just covering operational fees?So how many staff should they fire to lower tuition fees then?
Because that's the only option with real wiggle room. Presumably they're going to want the buildings when this is all over, so they can't sell them, after all.
Everyone, at least at decent universities, is working really hard to try and make this work, and nobody asked for the pandemic to ruin everything
If I were still in school, I'd fucking take this year off. No way I'd pay full tuition for what should be half or less.