American University students will have the option of taking classes in-person or online for the upcoming fall semester, the school said Tuesday, joining George Washington University as one of the first universities in the D.C. area to unveil its medium-term operational plans amid ongoing concerns about the coronavirus.
To help curb the spread of COVID-19, AU will also reduce density in its dorm buildings by housing students across roughly 2,300 single-occupancy rooms. Preference will be given to freshmen and, space permitting, some sophomores.
“To provide safe and accessible educational opportunities, we will offer a residential campus experience with a blend of in-person and online classes and activities,” the university says in a slide deck about the plan posted on its website. (Disclosure: AU holds the license for DCist’s parent company, WAMU.) “This provides flexibility to navigate changing health and safety conditions and the ability to increase in-person opportunities over time as allowed by health guidelines.
“We will continue to closely monitor the evolving situation,” the school adds. “Additional adjustments to our plan and operations may be needed based on updated guidance from the DC government, the American College Health Association (ACHA), and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).”
Meanwhile, GW said Monday it will hold face-to-face classes in the fall, under various mitigation efforts, including mask-wearing and social-distancing rules, reports the GW Hatchet. An associate vice president at the school told the student newspaper that the plan was a “roadmap” based on public health guidelines from the District government. Among other changes, students will return to campus over the two weeks immediately preceding the start of classes Aug. 31, instead of on a single weekend as usual. Bunk beds will be removed from dorms, most rooms will house a maximum four students each, and access to residential lounges will be suspended.
AU’s fall semester will begin Aug. 24 as scheduled, with law school classes beginning Aug. 21. The slide deck lists the six following class formats the university will offer:
- Live online sessions with in-person class meetings every other week.
- Live online sessions with periodic in-person class meetings throughout the semester.
- Live online sessions only.
- Online only; recommended for students who cannot meet at a set class time.
- Live online sessions with a combination of in-person and live virtual lab sessions.
- Live online sessions with a combination of in-person and live virtual studio sessions.
Individual schools and programs within AU will identify which courses are to be prioritized for face-to-face instruction. But classes with more than 40 students “will likely be online due to space constraints,” says the university, “with the possibility of face-to-face labs or smaller group sessions.” More than 100 AU classrooms will be limited to accommodating fewer than 10 people each at a time.
In its announcement Tuesday, the university didn’t specify tuition, room-and-board, and other fees for the coming academic year. But according to a tuition table posted on AU’s website, the full-time undergraduate credit rate for 2020 to 2021 comes out to $26,955 in tuition at 18 credit hours, with an additional $1,684 charged per extra credit hour. Fall tuition is due Aug. 1.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the university says fall 2020 tuition will remain the same. “AU is committed to continuing to deliver on our core academic mission while implementing safeguards to protect our community,” says the spokesperson, who points out that so-called “asynchronous content” will allow students to rewatch lectures and discussions whenever they choose.
After the school’s Thanksgiving break ends Nov. 29, “students living on campus will return home to avoid additional travel costs and reduce exposure and community spread,” notes the slide deck. “All classes and final exams will be completed remotely.”
To support social distancing in classrooms, AU says it will rearrange or remove furniture, place signage marking space measurements within those rooms, and cover certain equipment. Staff meetings will be held online, and all community members will be required to participate in mandatory health and safety training. The Eagle, the student newspaper at AU, was the first to report on the university’s fall plans.
AU will also mandate that masks be worn “at all times on campus, except while alone in residence hall rooms or private offices,” according to the slide deck. The university says it will provide reusable masks to people upon request, and personal protective equipment to “designated staff with jobs/responsibilities that do not permit appropriate physical distancing.” The campus health center will conduct COVID-19 testing for students, and administrators will coordinate contact tracing with the D.C. health department.
As for student housing, AU says it’s secured select off-campus locations for sophomores who previously were assigned on-campus housing and now need to relocate. One residence hall “will remain unoccupied for self-isolation of on-campus residential students who have a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19,” says the university. Bathroom capacity will range from one person to 16 people each at a time, depending on bathroom size and overall dorm capacity.
The university is promising to ramp up cleaning for its spaces, particularly those with higher occupancy and activity levels. On-campus dining will be altered to include packaged meals, take-away options, and mobile ordering for select retailers. The campus dining hall will see a new table reservation system, with limited seating available.
In addition, AU is preparing for a “phased return of faculty and staff,” and employees will be notified of their return-status by the end of July, per the university. “To keep density low, faculty and staff returning to campus may have adjusted schedules and many will continue to telework much or all of the time in the initial phases,” the slide deck states. “With classroom time/space limited due to physical distancing, nearly all faculty (unless they receive an accommodation/modification) will be expected to ensure their students benefit from periodic in-person, face-to-face sessions during the semester.”
The university is also planning what it describes as a “new kind of fall break.” Between Oct. 9 and 11, it will offer symposiums, career workshops, and other events for its students, regardless of where they live.
Other D.C. area universities are restructuring their fall semesters as well. The University of Maryland outlined a rough framework for a phased campus reopening Monday, saying its fall semester would kick off Aug. 31 as scheduled and that more information would be available by mid-July. And Howard University has said it’s making plans for in-person classes to resume in the fall, with an update expected in mid-June.
This post has been updated with comment from AU about tuition for its upcoming fall semester.
