The California State University system announced Tuesday that its 23 campuses will hold nearly all classes online in the fall semester to protect against a possible second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
While San Diego State University students understand the need to keep classrooms closed until it’s safe, they’re not happy about what it’s doing to their college experience.
“To be told in the middle of finals week, hey you guys already paid your tuition and we’re making classes online was kind of a big shocker,” said Fabrizio Lacarra Ramirez, a third-year English major at SDSU.
He said when classes first went online in March, the dynamic in classroom discussions changed immediately.
“In the classroom, you’re looking at the professor and the professor is looking at us,” Lacarra Ramirez said. “It’s very strange when everyone is looking at each other at the same time, and you feel eyes on you at all times."
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Lacarra Ramirez wasn’t pleased when he heard the news. The biggest issue for many students is whether they’ll have to pay full tuition for an inferior product.
“I’m paying about $4,000 since I’m an in-state student,” said Carisha Navarra, a fourth-year marketing major at San Diego State. “It’s a lot for all classes that’s online and we’re paying that $4,000 for what’s supposed to be a university education.”
A spokesperson for the CSU system said the governor’s revised budget will determine whether the colleges can offer tuition discounts. In the meantime, students are hoping professors will spend the summer creating better online courses.
“It’s nice that they told us earlier,” Navarra said. “It gives professors more time to plan as opposed to the emergency shift to online this spring which was kind of messy because some professors didn’t really do anything for class.”
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Other students had trouble communicating with their professors.
“I know everyone’s inundated with emails now, but there were some issues or questions I had about assignments and it could take up to a week to get a response,” said Alexa Oslowski, a fourth-year student studying journalism and art. She’s returning in the fall to complete some of her art classes.
The Cal State University system said individual campuses could decide to make exceptions for in-person classes like biology labs and clinical courses for nurses, but Oslowski isn’t sure what that means for her studio art classes.
“I’m curious to see if exceptions will be made for those classes, or if they’ll try to have online studio work,” she said.
Lacarra Ramirez is hoping the fall won’t be a repeat of the chaos this spring.
“The syllabi for this semester didn’t include an earth-shattering pandemic in it,” he said.
