Most Spring 2021 courses will remain online across all 23 California State University campuses, CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White said in a message on Thursday.
The announcement comes about three and a half months before Spring semester is scheduled to start, which White said gives university faculty members time to prepare for another online semester.
Making this early decision also gives students time to plan for the upcoming semester, and the CSU system is already reporting that enrollment numbers are strong at all its campuses, according to the news release.
“We have learned from experience that announcing this decision now will allow faculty and staff to continue or start professional development to be even more effective in the virtual space,” White said in the message.
San Jose State President Mary Papazian confirmed in a campuswide email Thursday that San Jose State would be among the system’s universities to remain online for next semester.
“We thank Chancellor White for his continued leadership and forward thinking as we adapt accordingly to the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic presents to higher education,” Papazian, said in a campuswide email Sept. 10.
Communications junior Jasmine Chohan said she is prepared for next semester to be online and wasn’t surprised by the news.
“We have to ease into things if we want things to be back to normal,” Chohan said in an Instagram message. “We cannot just expect 33,000 students to just walk to classes or have classes with a limited amount of people with the coronavirus restrictions in place.”
Moreover, she said that she wouldn’t be shocked if the Fall 2021 semester was also online or in a hybrid format.
Chohan also agreed with the sentiment that the lack of a vaccine is the main contributor to classes not being held in-person.
Another common feeling among some students is the hope for tuition prices to be reduced because of the new learning environment and the fact that some services being paid for are unable to be used by students, like the Diaz Compean Student Union at SJSU.
Psychology senior Katelyn Meyer said she hopes SJSU will lower costs because of what she feels is, “not the same quality of teaching that she would get in person.”
Graduation is another thing that she said has been on her mind.
“I feel really sad because I’m going to graduate in Spring 2021, and I want to walk across the stage and have the whole ceremony with my family there to watch me,” Meyer said.
As for the date of the Fall graduation commencement, there is no word from the university president on what graduation and commencement will look like for next semester at SJSU, but White mentioned in Thursday’s message that plans will be made in the coming months.
“I hope at least an almost regular graduation ceremony can happen,” Meyer said.
There are several factors that contributed to the decision to continue online learning, which were mentioned by White in the announcement.
The lack of a COVID-19 vaccine and the fact that next semester is set during the flu season are both significant reasons why in-person classes aren’t happening.
Hybrid classes, which feature online and in-person components, will continue in the spring and will be adjusted in cases where it is possible to increase the amount of students on campus, White said.
Over the summer, faculty members began learning how to transition to an online environment more effectively to provide a better experience for students.
Hazel Kelly, public affairs manager for the CSU Office of the Chancellor, said some of the CSU campuses will support students who may not have been prepared for an online learning experience by providing laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots for thousands of students.
“In order to help mitigate the digital divide, some campuses may decide to open on-campus computer labs or other indoor settings to support their coursework, following health and social distancing protocols,” Kelly said in an email to the Spartan Daily.
The change to online learning from in-person classes has had an impact on funding for the CSU system.
In a July 20 statement, White said the CSU’s budget was cut by about $299 million due to the impacts of the pandemic on the state’s economy.
Kelly added that in the final state budget for 2020-21, the CSU will receive more than $3.7 billion from California. This is about half of what it received from the state for the 2019-20 year according to the CSU website on funding.
“The CSU will continue to focus on student achievement while working to mitigate the effects of a reduced budget,” Kelly said. “How that will manifest on campuses will be different across the university based on the ability to tap into other sources such as reserves and other campus-specific ways to manage budget cuts.”
