Coronavirus Update: UC Berkeley Begins Charting Path For Fall Semester; Chancellor Rejects Idea Of Refunding Tuition
BERKELEY (CBS SF) -- UC Berkeley officials have begun considering a variety of scenarios they will put into place when students return for the fall semester, but refunding tuition is not one of them.
In the best case scenario, officials said Tuesday, it will be a mix of online and in-person, on-campus classes. But shifting class from campus to their homes has been an adjustment for many Cal students.
"I would really prefer if it was in person but I understand the situation and it's not as bad as I thought it would've been," Tomas Valencia said.
"School has always been stressful but I feel like online, I've lost the motivation to really pay attention to my classes," Deisy Ramos said.
Chancellor Carol Christ held an online discussion of the future course on Tuesday.
Christ said the university would likely employ a hybrid mode of online and in person classes in the fall. As for tuition, it will remain the same.
"The whole system of the University of California is not contemplating tuition refunds because students indeed have access to the classes which they are enrolled and they are getting full credit for that," she said.
Some students say the understand they won't get a break on their tuition but Tanay Baswa said he was not going to stick around to pay it if school is not back on campus.
"If it's a mix, it's likely I'll withdraw for a semester because I don't want to be paying a premium price," he said.
Baswa, who's from Kuwait, said he can easily study online while at home without paying for tuition. The reason he's here in the United States is to get the full college experience.
"It's about the opportunities you have the friends that you make instead of simply learning material," he said.
Housing is also a concern in the fall as the University of California schools try to figure out how to reopen dorms. They say they need a way to test, track and treat the cases in order to get people back in student housing.
