With San Joaquin county COVID-19 case numbers totalling 65,359 with 2,936 active cases, University of California (UC), California State University (CSU) and California Community College chancellor’s offices are making decisions regarding on-campus classes resuming in the fall semester.
UC is planning to return to primarily in-person instruction systemwide in Fall 2021, according to a Jan. 11 statement from the Office of the President.
UC President Michael V. Drake said as the university continues to monitor the evolution of the pandemic, the system is also carefully planning a safe return to in-person classes.
“Current forecasts give us hope that in the fall our students can enjoy a more normal on-campus experience,” Drake said.
Classes at CSU campuses are also projected to be on campus.
In December, CSU Chancellor Joseph I. Castro said that the system was approaching planning for the fall term with the goal of having the majority of its on-campus experiences returning.
“This decision comes at a good time as high school and transfer students have until December 15 to complete their applications for fall admission,” said Castro, who officially became chancellor on Jan. 4.
With admission applications now closed for CSUs and UCs, high school seniors moving on to higher education who didn’t apply will have to either wait for Spring 2022 admission applications to open or apply to a community college, where applications are still open.
The question of whether on-campus community college courses will restart in the fall remains as the Community College Chancellor’s Office monitors public health officials’ statements of safety regarding school reopenings.
California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley said systemwide questions have been asked about plans for reopening.
“I know this remains a very fluid situation because as you can tell over the last several months things continue to change rapidly and we are paying very close attention to our public health officials in California to help us figure out how and when to reopen,” said Oakley in a Jan. 26 meeting with members of student media.
Oakley said that the decision will be localized with individual colleges working with local and regional public health officials.
“That planning has begun and we are very hopeful that with the vaccine rolling out and with the right precautions in place we can begin to see some in person instruction as early as summer and hopefully no later than fall,” Oakley said, adding that even if community college courses are back in fall, physical distancing guidelines and interventions will still be in place.
“It won’t be what you expect to see as a normal semester but it will be the beginning of getting back to some sort of normalcy in our system. We will continue to have increased numbers of courses online well beyond this pandemic because we know how important this is to our students,” Oakley said.