Harvard University has announced it will implement online learning for all courses during the coming academic year, while tuition for the Ivy League school will remain about $50,000.
Up to 40 percent of undergraduate students will be cleared to live on campus this fall, including all incoming freshmen, according to a statement posted Monday on Harvard’s website. All Harvard seniors will be allowed to return to campus in the spring semester, with freshmen returning home. However, even those students who choose to live on campus will be required to take part in online instruction.
“We have sought a path to bringing all students back as soon as conditions allow, while continuing their academic progress in the meantime and remaining a vibrant research community across our broad range of disciplines,” Harvard President Lawrence Bacow and two other deans wrote in a statement. “But we also recognize that, fundamentally, there is an intrinsic incompatibility between our highly interactive, residential Harvard College experience and the social distancing needed to mitigate COVID-19 transmission.”
Various universities have struggled to implement academic plans for 2020-2021 following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Harvard’s new rules bar visitors from student dormitories and even forbid students living in one dorm from visiting another.
Princeton University on Monday announced its own rules for living on campus, allowing only freshmen and juniors to come to campus for the upcoming fall semester, while sophomores and seniors will be allowed back for the spring semester. Princeton has also announced a 10-percent reduction in tuition for all students, bringing tuition costs from $53,890 to $48,501.