COVID-19 and Higher Ed: Biweekly Update

Updates from New England Institutions

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Note: There will be no updates to the tracking dashboard this week. Information displayed is current as of September 11, 2020. Regular updates will resume next week.

Peeking Around the Corner: Announcements About the Spring 2021 Semester Begin to Trickle In

As the fall 2020 semester gets under way and campuses across New England adjust to the "new normal," many are wondering what the near future holds for higher education. The first announcements about campus plans for the spring 2021 semester have already been made — giving us a possible sneak peek at what higher education may look like in the new year. In terms of course modalities, spring 2021 is shaping up to look very similar to fall 2020: institutions are largely sticking to their current modality in the spring. The biggest changes will be to academic calendars.

In New England: The University of Connecticut became the first New England institution to announce a tentative plan for the spring semester: UConn officials are planning to continue a mix in-person, online, and hybrid classes in the spring. As UConn did with the fall semester, they are again providing the option for faculty and other instructors to provide their course in the modality of their choice. Modality changes will be allowed until October 19. After that time, modality changes will be considered on a very limited basis and will require department head, dean, and provost approval. No announcement has been made regarding changes to UConn's academic calendar in the spring. Massachusetts Bay Community College announced on September 16 that it will offer its spring 2021 courses exclusively online or remote, except for a handful that involve laboratory work. This format mirrors how courses are currently being delivered to students in fall 2020.

Outside the Region: Changes to Spring Break & Delayed Start Dates Iowa public universities, Purdue University, Ohio State University, Wichita State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have cancelled spring break and pushed back the start of next semester by a week or two in consideration of the ongoing pandemic. Instead of spring break, Purdue will add three “reading days” during the semester during which the campus will remain open but no classes will be held. Carnegie Mellon University is pursuing a similar, but slightly different plan: It is pushing back its spring semester start date to Februrary 1. It will condense the semester to 14 weeks with a shortened exam period, and spring break week will be replaced by two spring break days. Davidson College, in North Carolina, is replacing spring break with two two-day, midweek breaks throughout the term. Other institutions, such as The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, are keeping spring break and merely delaying it. Staying the Course on Course Delivery Modalities Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania became among the first institutions to say that it would conduct almost all instruction online throughout the spring 2021 term. The California State University System, the nation’s largest four-year public system, and College of the Canyons, one of the state's community colleges, will continue to deliver most of their courses online through spring 2021. Additional institutions that have announced plans to retain their fall 2020 modality for the spring term include: Hybrid University of Nevada, Reno Penn State University The University of Texas at Arlington Fully Online The University of Texas at San Antonio HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College Long Beach City College Changes to Housing To encourage individuals to sign off-campus leases, East Carolina University is allowing students to be released from their housing contracts in the spring.

Has your institution made plans for the spring term? Let us know! Email smurphy@nebhe.org. 

For more, visit NEBHE's COVID-19 Resource Page

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