Some of our young people are half way through their degrees (2019/20 intake): lockdowns on repeat, light at the end of the tunnel with vaccinations (?) and the legacy of COVID-19

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Previous thread

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose is all I can say!

@bigTillyMint

DS says he has had his last lectures/seminars for the year - just exams after Easter.

Surely there will be no viable reasons why they can’t be f2f again after the summer if the vaccination programme goes to plan (which it is so far amazingly )

Trouble is that it seems some lecturers like working from home to save commuting costs etc. Some aren't even in the UK as they've stayed in their home countries to avoid UK accommodation costs. Uni's really need to stamp on that kind of thing.

At my son's campus, it's depressing seeing the office floors/buildings in darkness, all day, every day. The staff just aren't there. That's completely different from them being there but adhering to social distancing, not doing lectures etc. If they can be "safe" in their offices (like millions of other people who go to work), then they should at least be on campus, even if they're doing very limited F2F contact.

My secondary age children are testing at home twice a week. I don't know why they can't do the same for students. I suppose some won't do the tests, others might ignore a positive result. But I'm sure the majority would comply.

*University students that should say.

My secondary age children are testing at home twice a week. I don't know why they can't do the same for students. I suppose some won't do the tests, others might ignore a positive result. But I'm sure the majority would comply.

The same could be true of secondary age children too - in that there will be some that won't do the test. I would bet my bottom dollar that home testing rates decline over the coming weeks amongst school children.
I agree that students should be asked to do LFTs at home. Interesting that the list of occupations on thegovernment website where you register the test doesn't include 'student' though! Almost like there is no intention of asking them to do it ...

As employees of the unis, the lecturers who are absent from campus even abroad must have to have permission from the uni bosses to WFH? I’m sure many school teachers and NHS workers might prefer to WFH for any number of advantageous reasons but their employers won’t allow this in vast majority of cases, clinical vulnerabilities notwithstanding. Our young people have sacrificed so much already - the unis can’t allow the continued “closed campus” while so many other aspects of life open up, even if distancing, testing etc has to be put in place. The government doesn’t seem to have as much power over unis, or perhaps the impact on the economy is less than say with schools reopening so they don’t care as much.

The unis love it, they are officially the owners of any recorded lectures and can use these again, even selling them as courses in the future. Friends I know who are lecturers are busy "losing" them.

My dds practical work is being done by another student on work placement, she directs him remotely. What I can't get my head round is that there must be the same amount of lab time required ( probably more in this convoluted way) , so why can't she be there doing her own work, bearing in mind she has a covid test weekly anyway?

@blametheparents

My secondary age children are testing at home twice a week. I don't know why they can't do the same for students. I suppose some won't do the tests, others might ignore a positive result. But I'm sure the majority would comply.

The same could be true of secondary age children too - in that there will be some that won't do the test. I would bet my bottom dollar that home testing rates decline over the coming weeks amongst school children.
I agree that students should be asked to do LFTs at home. Interesting that the list of occupations on thegovernment website where you register the test doesn't include 'student' though! Almost like there is no intention of asking them to do it ...

I got a phone call from school asking me why we hadn’t done the test - I’d just failed to type it onto the system

So I think schools will try and stick to it

So unis definitely can

And yes my dd lecturers were not in St. Andrews - where they barely had any cases! She was told f2f and didn’t get ANY!

It’s so wrong and this shit gov doesn’t care - prob quite happy to have unis turn into open unis and sell to international brands etc 🤷‍♀️

@Newgirls the secondary tests aren't compulsory though, so that's annoying they phoned. A head teacher on the news said only 10% of patents had signed the consent form at his school. I think it's more like 80% at our schools. I can't see why parents won't do it.

Really? Wow it’s only 1.5% who haven’t agreed to the tests at ours. I assumed it was normal.

They might have phoned because I did the nhs bit but not the school bit. I am very happy to do it and can’t understand those who won’t

@Newgirls I got into an argument in a Facebook group where someone said her children will not be taking the test. Lots were saying neither were theirs. I told them all they were irresponsible. Luckily the post was removed as I was getting quite annoyed.

I can't understand why anyone would not consent. Of course there will be exceptions with some children. But most should be fine.

No one wants to do it but here we are so let’s get on with it. Wise move getting off that group!

We line them up in our house. Monday and Thursday mornings, all 3 of us at home. I’ve told DD1 to take one before she comes home at the weekend too. Madness not to when it’s available.

Ds2 (year 12) isn't easy to test because he gives himself 15 mins to shower, eat and leave for school. So I was stood by the cereal cupboard with his test stick Tuesday morn. (mustn't test after food) ds3 (year 7) is easy enough as he gives himself an hour in the morn.

DD has a place abroad next year, but warned unis abroad are cancelling them. She's also heard her uni haven't ruled out online in September. She's signed a contract to rent £7500 room, shared kitchen and bathrooms and has spent two months there. She did thinking as her uni originally told her there'd be some f2f.

She said the other day she's only sticking it out as she wants her degree, but if she'd known what was going to happen she'd have done an online course at home as it'd have been much cheaper.

My DC would prefer to live in their uni cities with their friends even if uni is online in September, and both have already committed to accommodation for next year. They are ready for more independence (as am I).However, neither is getting a full experience, and I know that they will be the poorer for it in every possible way. DS is not going to do a work placement that should have been part of his course, and DD had only half of her Year Abroad. If I had DC applying for September I am really not sure I would want them to go.

@ifonly4

DD has a place abroad next year, but warned unis abroad are cancelling them. She's also heard her uni haven't ruled out online in September. She's signed a contract to rent £7500 room, shared kitchen and bathrooms and has spent two months there. She did thinking as her uni originally told her there'd be some f2f.

She said the other day she's only sticking it out as she wants her degree, but if she'd known what was going to happen she'd have done an online course at home as it'd have been much cheaper.

Yes, my son has said the same re doing a cheaper online course instead. He can't believe they're charging him £9k per year to watch last year's recorded lectures. He's seriously looking at other options rather than "going back" in September. He's found online reputable degree courses at less than half that price.

I don't know how Unis are going to justify charging the same tuition fees to students who are getting little or no face to face teaching as against those who need to be on campus to get face to face in practical courses via labs etc. Surely there needs to be a price differential to reflect the different methods of "teaching". It must cost more to provide labs and other practical elements, so surely those courses should cost more than the purely online ones??

@user1497207191 your argument re fees might hold some water if the 9250 actually covered costs to deliver the course but of course it doesn’t. Unis depend on all sorts of income streams including the accommodation, conferences, research grants, foreign fees etc many of which will have been depleted if not completely disappeared because of Covid.

Most of DD’s friends have been back living in Uni cities throughout albeit doing online courses precisely because they want some independence and a semblance of a student experience. They will be able to enjoy some activities over the summer before they go back and do whatever is on offer for them in September

If we knew we could decide accordingly. eg my twins could register for their course in Leeds at £12krather than London at £16k - if both are going to be online all year from September for identical courses but vastly different fees from the same entity. This year one has paid a lot more (or rather I have) for technically doing his course in London whilst his twin did the same course in Bristol but both did it 100% online and both had the same course but different prices.

@simbobs

My DC would prefer to live in their uni cities with their friends even if uni is online in September, and both have already committed to accommodation for next year. They are ready for more independence (as am I).However, neither is getting a full experience, and I know that they will be the poorer for it in every possible way. DS is not going to do a work placement that should have been part of his course, and DD had only half of her Year Abroad. If I had DC applying for September I am really not sure I would want them to go.

This is exactly the same for DD. She would be bored and lonely at home. Her home friends have all moved on now.

picking up DS at the weekend to be home at easter. He's trying to arrange an LFT test before coming home, and I've picked up a couple of boxes of tests from the local test centre for him to use while he's here - we're assuming he will be out and about with friends at least occasionally so would be good for reassurance (with my DD also at sixth form testing twice a week)

It must cost more to provide labs and other practical elements, so surely those courses should cost more than the purely online ones?? I suspect the courses with practical elements cost a lot more to run than humanities ones. This would make me think that the Humanities students are effectively subsidising the STEM type courses by paying more for less (if that makes sense)? So there is already an unfairness to standardising fees when you think about it (shockingly so!).

And that was fine and dandy when students didn't have to pay course fees themselves but not now!

My dd uni has sent out strong messages saying if you leave at Easter/spring break don’t come back. FFS just let the teens be tested!!

Mine isn’t there she’s so put off but it still winds me up. They are t even doing much f2f