What now? Pack up and hit the road or wait for a decision? Or a decision to be reversed? Or change course completely and go fully remote. Over a dozen colleges right here in MA have switched their plans, decided not to let students back on campus or in the dorms. It’s time to take a good hard look at what you want out of college, what you chose, why you chose it and if it still ‘looks’ the way you envisioned and still makes sense. And especially if it still makes sense financially. College is a big decision during normal times and the pressure of a pandemic adds even more weight.
Last year at this time, those heading off to college for the first time were getting to know their roommates through social media, going to orientation, shopping for the fun stuff to make their dorm rooms feel like home. Some were signing leases for apartments in the city, close to school. These are all additional financial decisions and commitments that may or may not be necessary this year. In addition to tuition, and all of the other fees that accompany going ‘off to college’, now we have to add the safety factor. Even if the college allows them to go to campus or move in, will it be done in a way that is safe enough?
As September gets closer, the pressure mounts on students, parents, teachers, professors, school administrators, school bus drivers and more. There are difficult decisions to be made with a lot of financial repercussions. We made the difficult decision back in April to run our fall semester remotely. This was made with the safety of our students, faculty, staff and their families in mind. We wanted to give our students a safe, certain way to learn without the added pressure of will we/won’t we. At the time, it may have seemed excessive to some, however we were confident that giving those in our community a safer, more certain and smarter choice they could count on was the right thing to do.
Since then, many students have come to us who had planned to attend a 4 year university for the traditional college experience. These are students who realized that affordable, transferable credits with the safety of learning from home was the smarter thing to do. They can and will still have that experience but it will be with a different outlook. We are confident these students will be happy with their education, proud of the decisions they made and be ready to go for their bachelor degrees with a whole new life experience under their belts. They will also have the confidence of knowing that when it came down to it, they needed to make a difficult decision for their futures and they aced it.
As recent as this week, schools such as Assumption, Holy Cross, and UMASS have reversed their decisions, realizing that they are unable to maintain the health and safety of their students by having them return to campus. The bad news is that the reversals came after countless students already committed to the high costs of in-person instruction. The good news is that it’s not too late to make the smarter choice and attend QCC for remote learning. Our expert faculty have the experience in remote teaching and learning, at the fraction of the cost of the 4 year schools. Students will receive a better online learning experience, and save thousands of dollars towards a bachelor’s degree. And the credits they earn here will transfer to 4 year colleges and universities, so when it is safe to return to campus, students will be able to rejoin their program without missing a beat.
Ultimately parents and students will make the decisions that work best for them and we hope they do what’s best for their academic and financial futures. If you want to talk about starting at QCC, please give us a call to talk about your options. We really believe it’s the smarter, safer and more affordable thing to do. There’s never been a better time to give community college a try.