How Boston-Area Colleges Plan To Reopen This Fall
BOSTON — Universities and colleges across Massachusetts are working through the summer to do the unprecedented: welcome back students in the midst of a global pandemic.
The plans are as varied as the school developing them. At Simmons University in Boston, the fall semester will be almost entirely online, with students and staff only allowed on campus in special circumstances. At the other end of the spectrum, Worcester State University is working to offer as many on-campus, in-person classes as possible.
Most schools are falling somewhere in between those two extremes, offering a combination of in-person and remote classes. They're also working to develop hybrid learning models, where a small number of students will be in the classroom with the instructor while the rest of the students participate remotely.
Schools offering on-campus activities this fall are developing testing programs and reconfiguring classrooms to allow for social distancing. Almost all of them will require face coverings on campus. And at schools where dorms and residence halls will be reopened, there will be new rules. Many campuses will send students home at Thanksgiving and finish the semester and final exams remotely.
Patch surveyed the online reopening plans for some of the biggest colleges and universities in greater Boston to see how their planning for the fall semester. Keep in mind the plans are still being developed and subject to change. Here's what we found:
School | Classes | Housing/Testing |
Bentley | Classes will be held in-person, remotely or a combination of both. All classes online after Thanksgiving break. | Residence halls limited to single- and double-occupancy bedrooms. Restrictions on visitors to dorms./Students will be tested upon return to campus and throughout the semester. |
Berklee | Online only. | Not reopening./Not needed as all students will be remote. |
Brandeis | Classes will be held in-person, remotely or a combination of both. | On-campus housing available for most undergraduates./Mandatory, "high frequency" testing for all students. |
BC | In-person and online classes will be offered. | Unknown./Testing and contract tracing. Students will also do regular self-symptom checks. |
BU | Students can choose to take in-person or remote classes. | Establishing "households" with residence halls./BU plans to open a testing center on campus. |
Bridgewater State | Most will be online. All classes will be online after Thanksgiving. | Students can choose to live in dorms./Students tested every two weeks. |
Bunker Hill | Most classes held online. On-campus courses will have dramatically reduced enrollment. | No housing/No testing program. Students are being asked to self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms. |
Fitchburg State | Combination of in-person and remote classes. | Dorms open with reduced occupancy./Unknown. |
Framingham State | Combination of in-person and remote classes. About 30% of classes will be on campus. | Dorms open at 65 percent occupancy./Developing a screening and testing plan. |
Harvard | All undergraduate classes will be remote. | First-year students on campus this fall. Seniors on campus in spring semester./Testing every three days. |
MIT | Most courses will be online. | Seniors can return to campus. Sophomores and juniors can request to return to campus. First-year students will not be allowed on campus, except in special circumstances. / Mandatory testing program still being developed. |
Middlesex Community | Most courses will be online. | No housing / No testing, as most students will be remote. |
Northeastern | Hybrid, with some students in classroom and the remainder participating remotely. | Northeastern will house students in dorms and in nearby hotels. / Planning on-campus testing center capable of processing thousands of tests per day. |
Salem State | Combination of in-person and remote classes. Students and faculty should be prepared to go fully remote if needed. | Reduced dorm capacity with one student per room. / On-campus testing available for students only. |
Simmons | All remote. | No housing, with some exceptions in special circumstances. / No testing, as most students will be remote. |
Suffolk | Remote classes, as well as some hybrid classes, with some students in classroom with the instructor and the remainder participating remotely. | First-year students on campus with one student per dorm room. Other students will be housed in nearby hotels. / Students will be tested and required to get a flu shot. |
Tufts | Remote classes for students who choose not to return to campus. | All students can choose to return to campus. / Students will be tested upon return to campus and throughout the semester. |
UMass-Amherst | Most, if not all, will be online. All classes will be online after Thanksgiving. | Students can choose to live in dorms. / "Surveillance testing" program for students and faculty, plus testing for students who show COVID-19 symptoms. |
UMass-Boston | All online. Campus will be open for a small number classes where students need to use university facilities. | Residence halls open at reduced capacity. |
UMass-Lowell | 75% of classes online or in a hybrid format. | Dorms will be open but at reduced capacity. / Testing and contract tracing. Students will also do daily self-symptom checks. |
WPI | Most grad classes online. Undergrad students can choose between remote or in-person classes. | All students can choose to return to campus. |
Worcester State | Working to have as many in-person classes as possible. | All students can choose to return to campus. |
Note: The author of this article is an adjunct instructor at Bentley University and Bridgewater State University.
This article originally appeared on the Boston Patch
