Students and community members are split on whether the U of G made the right decisions with winter 2022 course delivery and residence policies
University of Guelph students have expressed concerns with the university’s updated winter 2022 semester COVID-19 policies.
In mid-December, the school announced that there would be a remote start to classes for the first two weeks of the winter semester. In accordance with this, students living in residence were asked, if possible, to delay their return to campus until after the two week period on Jan. 21.
Students in residence who complied with this request and waited until Jan. 21 to return to campus were told that they would receive adjustments to their residence fees. A total flat rate of $200 would be credited to their student financial account. Students returning to residence prior to Jan. 21 would not receive the $200 adjustment to their residence fees.
This has been a big point of contention amongst residence students. U of G community members have taken to online platforms such as Instagram and Reddit to express their disappointment in the school’s residence adjustment fee policy.
Students have communicated their concerns with the amount of the residence refund, claiming that $200 was insufficient and does not reflect the true cost of the delayed residence move-in. For some students, the $200 flat rate is only half of the cost of residence fees for the two-week delay period.
“I feel that this refund of $200 is offensively inadequate. This amount is actually less than what residence costs per week! It shows the school is willing to take advantage of students, many of whom are likely suffering financially due to the pandemic,” said Ellie Bolton, a first-year arts and science student living in residence.
Online, students wrote that in addition to the $200 adjustment only covering roughly half of the true cost of residence for two weeks, the flat rate does not reflect the scale of residence fees across different residence halls and room types (i.e. single, double, or triple). For instance, a single room in Johnston Hall is more costly than a triple room in South Residence, yet the adjustment does not take this into consideration.
“While I know that these are trying times and the university is doing its best to keep us safe, COVID-19 is not an excuse for compensating us this insubstantial amount. Especially when our tuition costs and other fees are not being adjusted,” said Leah Vanderbyl, a first-year environmental science student living in residence.
The Ontarion reached out to the U of G for comment on students’ concerns with the residence adjustment. It stated that the $200 was not meant to be a refund that reflects a specific formula, but a benefit for students who delayed their return to campus.
“The $200 adjustment was in recognition of the changing circumstances and is outside of the Residence Contract. It was not intended to be a refund or calculated on a pro-rated formula,” said Pat Kelly, a U of G Residence Life representative. “It is also a benefit granted only to students in residences; students in an off-campus lease may not have received the same consideration.”
Kelly went on to note that the adjustment may be unique to the U of G community alone.
“To our understanding, many institutions across Ontario are not providing such adjustments to residence fees. However, we felt it was important to do so.” Kelly also said that residence remained opened for students wishing to return to campus on the initial move-in date. It was up to the students on whether they accepted the opportunity for the
$200 adjustment, or returned to campus on the original date.
In-person classes to resume Jan. 31
While students were expressing their frustration with the $200 adjustment, U of G announced that in-person classes would resume on Jan. 31, and that the tuition deadline would be extended to Jan. 23. This gave students the opportunity to request a full tuition refund in light of the recent announcement of winter 2022 course delivery.
Thoughts on whether the university made the right decision in resuming in-person classes on Jan. 31 are mixed amongst students. Some agree with U of G’s decision, some believe the school should have adopted a hybrid approach, and others argue that online learning should have been extended for the entire duration of the winter 2022 semester.
With the U of G community’s high vaccination rate, some have said that in-person learning poses only a minor threat to community health and is unlikely to contribute much to potential hospitalizations and severe cases of COVID-19. With this, they believe that the pros of in-person course delivery outweigh the cons.
One user on the r/uoguelph subreddit wrote, “[the U of G is] now essentially acknowledging COVID as endemic and that we’ve done all we can to make it safe; cases are no longer the metric by which we make decisions.”
Other U of G community members have discussed the toll that remote learning has taken on both academic and social life.
“Socially, online school is incredibly difficult. Students have almost no chance to connect with their peers. [T]his is even more of an issue for students in residence, as they have heavy restrictions when it comes to social interactions,” Bolton said.
Some students have advocated for a hybrid approach to the winter 2022 semester, arguing that the university should provide options for at-risk students and faculty. These concerns take into account the potential rapid spread of COVID-19 throughout classrooms, and how this will affect students’ participation and attendance in class.
Another r/uoguelph subreddit user wrote, “what happens if someone gets [COVID-19]? Are they just expected to miss lectures for [two] weeks?”
Other community members insist that online course delivery should be extended until COVID-19 cases subside. This is in the hopes of protecting vulnerable students, staff, and faculty, and avoiding the stress caused by repeated shifts in the U of G’s COVID-19 policies.
U of G COVID-19 policies and course delivery instructions continue to be updated in light of public health developments. For more information on the winter 2022 semester COVID-19 policies, keep up to date with U of G news releases and top stories.
A version of this article appeared in print in The Ontarion issue 192.2 on Jan. 27, 2022.
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