LOS ANGELES—
By: Olivia Rae Hernandez
Most in person college classes for the spring semester of 2020 were cancelled or sent students home to take online classes due to the Coronavirus spreading causing a global pandemic.
Although some students have taken online classes before, for those who have not it turned out to be a great challenge.
It was a struggle for both community college students as well as four year students. Even though most community colleges offer online classes regularly, some students do not take these classes due to not enjoying learning through Zoom or the Internet.
“I’m not a good online learner. I like somebody to sit in front of me and teach me otherwise I’ll get too distracted.. It negatively impacted me because I’m not able to learn as well…It’d definitely suck if we went online for the Fall ,” said sophomore Brock Beamish of Santa Ana Community College.
Some of the emotions for school cancellation are disappointment, sadness and fear. With most schools planning to go online or some type of hybrid schedule, it’s clear this may be a new normal.
This new normal is unprecedented and is going to bring an extreme amount of issues itself.
Schools notified through emails and social media about these which brings into question how much are schools doing to make sure that their students mental health is okay as well as schools should have told students sooner.
By keeping students at bay about the school’s decision of going online or not in the spring and now in the fall as well they are adding extreme stress to students.
Some of the decisions students have to make is whether to get out of their lease, go to a different school, defer for a semester or how to afford school in a tough economy. Most schools are making tuition the same amount as in-person classes, which does not seem logical to many students.
“The financial part I don’t see the sense of paying full tuition when you’re at home and it’s not your choice… It doesn’t make sense to pay 60,000 dollars to stay at home… You pay for your college experience as well and you’re not getting the same education,” Alix Maria senior of the University of Southern California said.
Colleges are doing a mix of hybrid, online, and half students in person or off campus depending on the region. However, this does not take away from the fact that students are missing college experiences such as careers fairs, internships on campus and sporting activities.
“A Covid discount would make sense. We go for the football games too [USC],” Maria said.
Schools need to be doing more to ensure the mental health whether it be mental wellness forms or some type of check in to make sure that students are put first, not just the money aspect of them. Students are missing a critical time of growth and learning in their life. This should be recognized by universities and try to do more for their students.
“Maybe school should be testing for Covid-19.. And they should have the counselors open more since no one is in school,” said Beamish.
Hopefully, with the changes in the Fall universities big and small will be able to properly educate and support their students. It is clear that this is going to be something that all students never forget.
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