West Chester University will continue holding most of its courses online in the spring semester, President Christopher Fiorentino announced today.
Some of the same classes that were offered in-person this fall will be offered as hybrid courses in the spring, Fiorentino said.
“The latest scientific forecasts are predicting that the pandemic will continue to be unyielding through the winter and spring months,” Fiorentino said in his announcement. “Additionally, there is not enough information on the availability of rapid testing or a vaccine on a sufficient scale for us to be confident enough to announce and plan for a spring semester that includes a return to in-person instruction.”
West Chester is among the first universities in the region to announce whether courses would be online for the spring. The Community College of Philadelphia announced in September it would not hold in-person classes in the spring, Philly Voice reported.
The University of Pennsylvania announced on Oct. 1 that it would push back the start of spring semester and shorten spring break to two days, but did not say whether students would return to live on campus, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported.
Temple University is still making its plans for Spring 2021, wrote Ray Betzner, a spokesperson for Temple University, in an email to The Temple News.
West Chester will release additional information about classes on Oct. 19, but students may schedule their courses prior to that date, Fiorentino said.
Online training and tutoring as well as remote delivery of library services and other campus resources will still be made available to students in the spring semester, Fiorentino said. West Chester will also continue to provide COVID-19 relief credits to students to lower the cost of tuition.
Housing will be open but reduced in the Spring 2021 semester, with priority to Promise Program students, a program for students experiencing homelessness, students experiencing hardship and students who have in-person academic placement, like student teaching, clinicals and internships.
“Continuing remote instruction through Spring 2021 will ensure that WCU students will be able to earn credits for academic degrees in an uninterrupted manner,” Fiorentino said.
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