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Universities spend a good amount of resources on stopping student attrition in first year. UL's first 7 weeks programme is brilliant. https://www.ul.ie/ctl/what-we-do/first-seven-weeks What happens now though when campus could stay shut until 2021?
Bonds with classmates who many times remain your best friends for life won't be properly formed. Socialising on Zoom won't be the same thing. On zoom you can't really eyeroll and whisper utterances to current stranger/future best mate next to you.
How can you tell a student is struggling now? Will you be able to refer them to various campus supports, are they equipped?
Colleges for many queer kids allows them to finally have the space to be who they always were. Many want and need to escape from home, this might not happen now. Will their personal growth be stilted?
Of course, the Internet has allowed people find their tribe since the very first days so there is opportunity there but offline spaces are hugely important.
With everything online from the "comfort" of their own home, how can you keep students engaged? This is a good lit review on findings in this area: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244015621777
But now factor in the background anxiety that we have in society because of Covid. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smi.1116
