The typical college experience is disappearing in the blink of an eye. As seniors say goodbye to high school, they could be saying hello to the sad reality of what might be to come.

As COVID-19 continues to carry on, so do the cancelations and changes that colleges and universities have been making. With the health of students and the public in mind, colleges are taking new measures to slow the spread of the virus. From taking away roommates to keeping the campus closed all together, many can agree that they never would have thought this would be what their college situation would look like. 

The University of North Dakota released a statement on May 11, 2020 declaring that students living in the residence halls and on-campus apartments would no longer have roommates during the 2020-2021 school year due to the current status of COVID-19. This means every student will receive their own room but is likely to share a bathroom. This decision was made with the students’ safety in mind but undoubtedly alters the typical first-year college experience. Although this choice is likely to be made for a good amount of universities nationwide, many simply do not have the room or resources available to make such a huge change. 

As many colleges and universities are making subtle adjustments during this time, California State University took a large step and announced that it will be staying closed for the entire first semester of the 2020-2021 school year. Nearly 482,000 students attend the Cal State Universities yearly and their time will be spent learning from the screen of their computer. Tough decisions like these unfortunately raise many concerns as more large colleges could be making these same decisions for the upcoming school year. 

Though these decisions are being made in light of keeping the students and faculty safe, naturally this raises frustration within the students as the future of the next year is up in the air. Hopefully over the span of the summer the future of next school year will become clear but until then it is almost all unknown.