Should students who started college amid the pandemic get a freshman year redo?
“This is the group that has now had the most unusual first-year experience; they’re probably less connected than classes were in previous years,” said Stacey Bradley, University of South Carolina senior associate vice president for student affairs and academic support.
Freshmen began college in the fall of 2020 after crushing losses — canceled proms, senior assemblies, end-of-year sports banquets and graduation ceremonies. Then, those teens spent their first college year in front of computer screens, many never seeing their professors face-to-face or joining a club which met in person.
The concern is that the first-year experience may have been so desultory and disillusioning students won’t return. In late April, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center recorded a 5.9 percent drop in spring enrollment compared to the same time last year, with the steepest drop occurring at community colleges (-14.6 percent).
“We can’t take these continuing students for granted. Even if they’re registered for the upcoming semester, we can’t make assumptions,” said Bradley.
Freshman year — and the survival skills acquired — can influence student success and competition. The initial year is a key transition period where young people figure out how to become independent learners and navigate campuses, which provide lots of opportunities and resources, if students know how to access them.
Given that freshmen didn’t have a chance to develop those skills — such as how to live communally in dorms, build a friend network, keep focus in a 150-person lecture hall, secure academic help — what should colleges be doing for them?
Florida-based independent college counselor Lisa Sohmer said professors, especially those who don’t teach freshmen, will have to understand the sophomores in their classes this fall have never fully been freshmen and may need more guidance than “My office hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 2 to 4.”
Milly Gorman is a former director of new student orientation at the University of Georgia. That first year on campus is when students get involved in activities and develop community through their dorms and dining halls, she said.
“What they probably missed is developing those bonds and relationships and learning more people skills,” Gorman said. “This year could be considered a 13th grade, if you will, where they were in college but still at home. They are sophomores in name but freshmen in terms of getting used to the campus, finding buildings, learning the shortcuts and developing self-advocacy.”
Gorman said the pandemic may yield a few silver linings, including second-year students returning with more enthusiasm about finally being on an active and open campus. “The energy of a campus is so infectious, so exciting,” she said. “I also think some students have now realized their learning style. They may know they need to be in front of a professor. Others may have realized they like digital learning because they can work at their own pace and in comfortable clothing and now really want a hybrid situation.”
Sohmer said she expects the freshman class of COVID-19 to find its way, explaining, “Every college freshman in the fall of 2020 went through the same kind of problem to various degrees, and there is a strength of community in that. I am optimistic about what will happen with these students. The colleges are just as excited to have these kids back as the kids are excited to be on campus.”
Maureen Downey writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
