How has COVID-19 changed the ecosystem of American colleges and universities?

BY FREDA MIKLIN GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER

The Villager sat down with Craig Wittgrove, head of the post-graduate counseling office at Cherry Creek High School (CCHS) to gain his insights on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the upcoming first year of college for the CCHS graduating class of 2020 and colleges overall. We met at a park nearby the school so we could visit in person and observe social distancing rules.

Wittgrove told us that about two-thirds of U.S. colleges and universities are planning to hold at least some classes on campus in some format in the fall. Some have planned to begin the semester early and complete it at Thanksgiving in case the virus comes back in what has traditionally been the flu season.

Eight percent of colleges and universities have already opted to be fully online for the fall semester, led by the California State University system, the nation’s largest four-year public university system with 500,000 students. Wittgrove told us that CCHS sends around ten students to California State Polytechnic in San Luis Obispo each year. The University of California system, which includes UCLA and UC Berkeley, is letting each individual campus decide how to hold its classes. Overall, Wittgrove said, 20 to 25 percent of colleges and universities nationwide have not yet made a final decision, waiting to see what path the

Craig Wittgrove has been the head of post-graduate counseling at Cherry Creek High School for 11 years. coronavirus follows in their locale, while leaving parents and students in limbo. University of Oregon is letting students decide all the way up to September 1 whether they want to accept offers of admission. Ivy League and the most highly selective schools have been less flexible.

Specific actions being taken around COVID-19 are having only one student per dormitory room. For those designed as suites with shared common areas, that is less challenging than in dorms with traditional two-person rooms. Some colleges are setting up one building on campus as a COVID dorm for students to stay in if they become infected and must be isolated for several weeks. At the University of California San Diego, where there is a large biomedical program, administrators have decided to test everyone on the campus—66,000 people---monthly for the virus at a cost to the school of $2 million per

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