Fall 2020 Instruction Will Be Offered Remotely

A notice sent by the University of California San Diego to incoming students yesterday and to the rest of the student body today confirmed that remote instruction will be offered as an option for Fall Quarter 2020. This comes ahead of the May 1 deadline to confirm enrollment for accepted students.

According to the email, classes will tentatively be run using a system that couples in-person and online instruction. The email emphasized that the extent to which in-person instruction is offered will depend on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic this coming Fall.

The university confirmed that no alterations to tuition or fees will be made, including campus-based fees, despite pressure being put on the UC system to refund or adjust them should online instruction continue. Many students and parents have taken issue with this decision, circulating petitions calling for reduced tuition for online classes, particularly in light of the additional financial pressure posed by the pandemic.

This Monday, over 700,000 students from the University of California and California State University systems filed lawsuits disputing fees charged to students for campus services. The lawsuits specifically target refunds of recreation and other campus-based fees, arguing that students are paying for services which are no longer accessible since campuses have switched to remote instruction.

Admitted students may contact the Office of Admissions for a possible extension of the May 1 decision deadline; however, the university assures students that plans to offer courses across all departments are underway.

Triple rooms will be entirely eliminated to further encourage social distancing. Despite this transition, housing will still be guaranteed for all contracted students. So long as a student pursues full-time enrollment, financial aid or scholarships will not be affected by whether or not a student lives on campus. Necessary adjustments to payments and financial aid will be made between students and the university.

This decision succeeds earlier deliberation by the UC campuses and previous speculation by Chancellor Khosla about remote learning, as other campuses around the country made plans for Fall 2020.

Sahana Narayan is an Assistant News Editor for The Triton. You can follow her @saharadesert00.

The first paragraph has been edited to better adhere to The Triton’s style guidelines.