- The University of Pennsylvania is the latest college to roll out its hybrid rescheduling plan. On Tuesday, it announced a fall semester and urged students not to return to Philadelphia for the sake of public health.
- Less than half of U.S. universities plan to return to campus, a number that continues to decline as the number of cases of coronavirus continues to die.
- Coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania are trending upwards, which is the basis for the university’s decision.
- The university also announced that it will roll back its previously announced tuition increase – making it not the only Ivy League institution to consider its own persona as a price increase.
- Visit the Business Insider website for more stories.
The University of Pennsylvania has become the latest college to announce to students that it is canceling these fall campus activities for a majority of its students, after previously announcing a hybrid return to campus.
The announcement comes because higher education officials fear that re-college on campuses could lead to a spike in coronavirus cases. Many colleges are rolling back decisions to welcome students this fall. Those who reopen have to deal with how many cases of coronavirus they will reopen.
“With very limited exceptions for international students and those students who face significant housing or personal difficulties, we will not be able to accommodate undergraduate students in university housing,” University President Amy Gutmann wrote in a statement issued Tuesday. on the school’s website.
Read more: A student housing developer is backing down after pressure from schools to bring colleges back to campus so it could keep its revenue
The announcement does not address graduate and professional programs, which “will continue to evaluate their own operations,” according to the statement.
The statement cited the “alarming” spread of the coronavirus as a reason.
“The sheer number of students that Pennsylvania would recommend to public health now upon arrival – either based on testing or high-risk exposure – must enter into a two-week quarantine is untenable,” the statement continued.
The statement also asked students to stay home for the sake of public health: “For the safety of students and the wider community, we encourage all other students not to return to Philadelphia.”
The UPenn also sent a letter repeating the same message of warning to its student body early Tuesday afternoon, which was reviewed by Business Insider. The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
New cases of coronavirus have gone up in trend in recent weeks
The news from the University of Pennsylvania comes as the outbreak of the coronavirus in Pennsylvania continued through August. The spread of the virus has generally accelerated over the summer months, with just 356 new Pennsylvania cases recorded on June 1, 636 on July 1, and 888 cases reported on August 1, according to the state Department of Health.
See more: Students do not want to return in the fall, and this can cause many universities to collapse
In a statement on Tuesday, Pennsylvania Secretary of Health, Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvanians on to practice public health measures to combat the spread of the disease.
“The current mitigation efforts are essential as the new school year approaches and we are working to ensure that our children can learn back,” she said. “Wearing a mask, exercising social distance and following the requirements set out in the orders for bars and restaurants, meetings and counting will help keep our business count low.”
The University of Pennsylvania is not the only Ivy League school to remain closed this fall – or consider what that means for tuition
Throughout the semester, students at higher education institutions nationwide who were not impressed by online learning appealed to their schools to reduce tuition fees. In its statement Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania announced that education would roll back to last year’s rate, reduce student tuition costs by 3.9%, and reduce its ‘general fee’, leaving schools non-instructional services for student support, by 10%.
The base cost of attending the University of Pennsylvania is $ 53,166.
“Housing and food costs paid by students will be credited or reimbursed,” the school said in a statement, “consistent with the method used in the spring.” Most other Ivy League universities have also taken leave of room and board, where applicable, but many have not changed lessons.
See also: The University of Virginia School of Business allows some MBA candidates to skip the GMAT. The head of admission explains who can close the test and how they evaluate applicants without test results.
Harvard University announced in July that it would lead distance learning, but 40% of students – including freshmen and students without a suitable home-learning environment – are allowed on campus for the fall semester. The lesson is the same.
Princeton University, similar to the University of Pennsylvania, has just rolled back its plans for a hybrid semester with students on campus. It had also previously announced a 10% cut.
“In short, the impact of the pandemic in New Jersey has led us to the conclusion that we can not provide this fall with a truly meaningful on-campus experience for our undergraduate students in a way that respects public health concerns and is consistent. is with state regulations, “Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber wrote in a message shared on the university’s website.
Meanwhile, another Ivy League institution, Cornell, conducted a survey and found that most students would return to Ithaca, NY, even if campus remained closed – and decided to reopen it, albeit ‘counteracting’, students and the wider community better would protect. Cornell’s price will maintain the 3.6% increase it announced in March.
Read more:
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Colleges reopen with an asterisk – they decide how many cases of coronavirus they will reopen
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