To think what's happening to student is discrimination against poorer young people.

[Feelingconfused2020]

Students are young, in many cases just 18 yet many are being asked to isolate in a room for 2 weeks with issues around access to food and no real friends or family around them (because they've just got there and live with strangers) arguably prison is a safer place as at least food supply is guaranteed. In Scotland they've already been told they won't be allowed home at Christmas which is beyond absurd.

So what is going to happen? Inevitably families with enough money will encourage their young people to drop out and take a gap year. Those who can't afford to do so will be stuck at uni. The poorest suffer most, as covid seems to prefer.

It's not ok for Nicola Sturgeon, and other leaders, to stand by and let this happen, there will be suicides, there will be incidents related to mental health issues.

The governments all needed to have predicted this would be an issue, they should have put more strategies in place as they have in schools.

I am so cross for young adults in this country, they have been completely disregarded by all our governments.

What strategies would you expect?

Have you got a solution?

TBH I really think that students are getting the worse deal !! I cannot comprehend as a mother imagining any of my children starting Uni and their laptop as their main/ only company!!

Inevitably families with enough money will encourage their young people to drop out and take a gap year.

eh ? Why 'inevitably' ? I don't know anyone who is encouraging their dc to drop out. They've just got there. They are living with new friends and studying for their degrees. What do you think they are going to do at home?

The governments all needed to have predicted this would be an issue, they should have put more strategies in place as they have in schools.
What 'strategies' are you suggesting ?

It's really hard for students right now but we must adhere to the government's guidelines.
Students have moved, en mass, all around the country and it was inevitable that the Covid rate was going to go up.

What do you think is a viable solution?

PS , I have two children at uni .

why is a gap year preferable to onsite learning? many who take a gap year don't return to education.
if your in a dorm, everyone is new, everyone in the same situation and they will find ways to get food (and probably alcohol).
some with fragile mental health will suffer more than others but they may also realize their inner strength.

The government could have made online learning compulsory to avoid this issue and I totally agree that mental health in students will suffer, it has already led to an increase in referrals and emergency call outs at my university sadly

I agree OP. The UCU have been saying since at least the beginning of September that it is irresponsible to allow students to be on campus until after Christmas. But the universities & government are ignoring that proposal. I feel like these young adults are being used by the government in some kind of show of “look we’re all getting back to normal”. Only it has either dramatically backfired or they simply didn’t care about the collateral damage in the first place.

It’s an awful situation for students, unis should have been told to go distance learning apart from courses that require labs, etc for at least the first term. It would be the only viable way to give an education, while also protecting them and their families.

I would be really struggling if I were an undergrad right now—away from home, trapped inside, trying to study under these circumstances. I have no doubt I would be having panic attacks and be unable to cope. I think forget just how cramped and unpleasant most student halls are, it’s not at all comparable to being quarantined in a normal home. It is quite literally a single room, with a narrow bed and a desk.

I really feel for them. Especially the freshers and the overseas student who've stayed all through lockdown and aren't finding it any better. The student experience isn't this. Bless them. No. Solutions here, because I'm no mastermind, but lots of empathy.

In Scotland they absolutely have not been told they won't be allowed home at Christmas.
Nicola Sturgeon made a point of saying it's too early to talk about that.
In Scotland students who aren't self isolating have been told to stay away from bars, pubs, etc for this one weekend and then follow the same rules as everyone else in Scotland from Monday.

Or they could go home and do remote learning?

If they are intelligent enough to get into university then they are intelligent enough to realise that during a pandemic where the advice has been isolate if in contact with a positive case that they might have to....isolate! It's hardly new information.

@Feelingconfused2020 Do you have a source for students in Scotland being told they won't be allowed home for Christmas.

There's a global Pandemic going on just now.
No-one's life in the UK, and presumably elsewhere in the World, has been unaffected.

They should have been more upfront about classes being online and given young people the choice about whether to study from home or move away. All this was done to protect rental income imo. Now young people are miles from their existing support networks and vilified for socialising in an attempt to create new ones. It’s all about protecting landlords- other people can lose their jobs, incomes and homes, and tough shit because covid, but there is a class of people who are being cushioned and it’s clear as day who that is.

“Arguably prison is a safer place”? Come off It.
There were 34112 assaults on inmates in the first 6 months of 2019. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/c2afd992-fbcb-11e9-98fd-4d6c20050229

It’s a shit time for youngsters to be starting uni, I feel for them. But first years are usually in halls (or these days private equivalent) so they’re not alone. I think it’s especially sad for them that they’re the year who had their A levels fucked up - as a cohort, they’re really copping it.

They’re still “luckier” than the people losing their jobs with families to feed.

It really is not the end of the world to start uni without parties and piss ups.

[quote silkpashmina]@Feelingconfused2020 Do you have a source for students in Scotland being told they won't be allowed home for Christmas.[/quote]
I'm also interested in that source!

The Christmas thing is bollocks.

And they were asked not to go out to pubs THIS weekend while rates are wild in buildings. Not for the rest of their lives.

@BugCatcher879

Or they could go home and do remote learning?

If they are intelligent enough to get into university then they are intelligent enough to realise that during a pandemic where the advice has been isolate if in contact with a positive case that they might have to....isolate! It's hardly new information.

They were told their classes would be in person, and they would therefore be required to be on campus to do their course. Many have since found their course is actually entirely online—they were lied to, and now told their rent is not refundable. Unis didn’t want to lose the rent, but knew they wouldn’t actually be able to attend classes.

Now young people are miles from their existing support networks and vilified for socialising in an attempt to create new ones.

Teens, and those in their 20s have 'existing support networks' on-line still, the same as they did in March, April, May.......etc etc - all their school friends, or friends from hobbies or whatever, are on the end of their phones and other devices, as they have been throughout.
Now, they have additional new friends, within their flats.

So the strategies I am suggesting are wide ranging and far from novel. For example:

DON'T have a party at a pub/bar( this has reportedly been something that Glasgow uni arranged for its Freshers)

Keep uni drinking venues closed for now. No student unions bars open.

Provide hand sanitiser in each hall on each floor etc.

Have wardens checking for parties in halls/flats.

Have the uni organise food supplies for isolating students.

Organise students in smaller bubbles by considering where they live (if you are studying maths you should live with maths students so there's no bubble mixing)

Organise testing centres near to campus as many students don't have cars (I heard a woman on the radio saying her friends had to use public transport to get to a testing venue. This is ludicrous!)

There are probably loads more too. I have no objection to the idea students can't go to the pub this weekend. I do object to the idea they can't go home for Christmas and I hate hearing 18 year olds saying they can't get food. These are the same young people who didn't get their proper A-levels. They've had a tough time. The government has departments whose job it is to care about universities. Why didn't they think about this and pre plan? Why didn't they imagine some students might be self isolating with no friends to buy food for them.

"In Scotland they've already been told they won't be allowed home at Christmas which is beyond absurd" Total shit.

The Universities have generally been pretty good to students. My child is at a Scottish university, has been self-isolating for the last week due to a flatmate testing positive. The University have been in regular contact, have a system in place so they can get laundry done, rubbish taken out and for food deliveries. Have offered help with any mental health concerns.

Yes the timetable started off online but there have been face to face sessions happening since then.
They have all been asked not to go out for one weekend to try to knock it on the head as it (unsurprisingly) spread like wildfire during freshers week.

That ridiculous headline was some fucking reporter asking the question which Nicola Sturgeon simply answered as 'its far too early to think about Christmas' I mean I guess she could have just flat out ignored it - which is probably what such an inflammatory question deserved - but hey it gave everyone something to snark about for a while after not actually reading what was said.

Right so I didn't realise this "home for christmas' wasn't a thing in general circulation. Here is one of many links I have found.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/coronavirus-students-scotland-ban-return-home-new-restrictions-b576284.html%3famp

They haven't categorically.said that students cannot go home for Christmas but they have clearly said that going home would break the current rules and, in separate news, BJ has said we are looking at six months if current restrictions so much of the media has made he connection.

I haven'tstarted this thread because students have to stay in this weekend. It's the threat of being stuck there for months that has terrified me on behalf of young people.

If I had a child in that year at uni I would be very scared for them.

The two missing young men from Bath Uni worry me hugely (one was found dead in the river today).
I have nieces and a nephew at uni. I am so glad my own young adults aren't expected to move home and isolate. It's very worrying.