COVID-19 and the Impacts on College Students

Schools across the nation have moved their classes to an online platform since the start of the Coronavirus. Students have been battling with not having reliable Wi-Fi or not having access to a device so that they can participate in classes or do their homework. These challenges don’t just stop there as colleges and universities are in water trying to reimagine how they will deliver engaging and holistic learning experiences for their students this fall.  

According to a survey conducted by EdNC, “Four out of every five participants stated that they were still enrolled in all of their classes while 9% dropped one or more classes and 2% withdrew.” Although most students are still plan on attending all their classes, many students either plan to withdraw, live at home, or become part time which will cause financial issues for many colleges and universities. One way that students have seen impacts has been either tuition increases or added fees that will go towards funding the schools. 

As stated by John Pryor, founder of Pryor Education Insights, “For new students, it’s going to be a mess. I expect that we will see many of the students who were so excited to be accepted a few months ago will elect to take a gap year”. As an incoming freshman, I know that lots of students were very excited for this new beginning but with the uncertainty of what could happen due to COVID-19, many have elected to take a gap year to focus on working and then returning to school the following year. In another study done by China, the researchers determined that some of the biggest anxiety stressors for returning college students were in relation to delayed studies and future employment opportunities. For many students, the lack of communication and clarity between their schools has also added to their stress.  

Although COVID-19 has caused many challenges, one positive outcome is that it has allowed our education system to rethink how they delivery an engaging and holistic learning experience for students. While it presents its challenges, it is also a massive opportunity to break out of old habits and create new, impactful, relevant modes of learning that take advantage of technology as mentioned by Gaidi Faraj, dean of African Leadership University. COVID-19 has forever changed the way our society thinks of education and it will have lasting impacts on our future generations.  

Works Cited 

Aten, Jamie. “The Impact of COVID-19 on College Students.” Psychology Today, 3 Jan. 2020, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hope-resilience/202006/the-impact-covid-19-college-students. Accessed 6 Aug. 2020. 

DePietro, Andrew. “Here’s A Look At The Impact Of Coronavirus (COVID-19) On Colleges And Universities In The U.S.” Forbes, 30 Apr. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/andrewdepietro/2020/04/30/impact-coronavirus-covid-19-colleges-universities/#428cd16b61a6. Accessed 6 Aug. 2020. 

Osborne, Molly. “8,000+ community college students share their COVID-19 stories.” EdNC, 1 June 2020, www.ednc.org/nc-community-college-students-share-covid-19-impact/. Accessed 6 Aug. 2020.