Daily Lumina News 032020

Senior Luz De Leon usually never leaves her Skidmore College campus for spring break, Thanksgiving, or other holidays. A flight from Albany to Houston can be pricey. But this March, in her final year at Skidmore, she decided to visit New York City. She was about to head back to campus when she got an email alert about new restrictions related to COVID-19.
Like thousands of other Texas college students, De Leon is trying to find a new normal these days. But for first-generation college students, the abrupt transition can present extra challenges, both financially and emotionally.

While higher education leaders and experts may disagree on how this recession—and complications arising from the novel coronavirus—will play out, they all agree this is a difficult, unique time for the sector.
Institutions with large endowments and storied reputations are bound to survive. But what about community colleges and open-access institutions, which serve the most vulnerable and underrepresented students?

Shutting down universities and colleges during a pandemic comes with many challenges and unknowns for students. Roughly 20 percent of students have trouble with basic technology needs; others are losing on-campus jobs that helped them pay for their education.
Some companies are stepping up to help with offers of free storage, internet support, and more.

Today’s college campuses are in many ways designed to be like small cities, featuring places to shop, eat, and live daily life as well as learn and teach. And in the age of coronavirus, those campuses are dealing with major concerns and questions not unlike those facing urban leaders.
On this episode of St. Louis on the Air, Jessica Long-Pease of the University of Missouri-St. Louis shares how she and other student affairs professionals across the campus and the region are working to support college students affected by developments surrounding COVID-19—and how students are responding.