How would you feel if you were about to start your college life in NYC and you were told that you cannot come anymore just a month before the semester starts? Or what if you renewed the rent to attend the school in the city which has one of the highest rent fees in the world and now you are told that all classes will be delivered online? This is what new and returning international students at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) are experiencing. SVA, one of the top design schools in NYC, announced yesterday (8/12) that they are going to deliver online classes only for public health, and lots of students were disappointed, frustrated, and shocked by the news. This blog post will cover why SVA made decisions to go fully online and what does all this mean to international students.
Contents
- SVA goes fully online- Why?
- Why students are upset?
- Exceptions to the fully online plan
- What does all this mean if you are an international student?
SVA goes fully online- Why?
According to the full statement from SVA’s provost, Christopher J. Cyphers, Ph.D. regarding the SVA Reopening Plan, SVA decided to go online for everyone’s welfare– which is no surprise. New York City’s reopening plan requires schools to close immediately if the city’s positivity rate hits 3%. Although the current rate is around 1%, it seems that SVA viewed it will not take long to hit the minimum threshold when the city re-opens and students come back. Moreover, the building will be forced to close when there are as few as two individuals who are tested positive or who have symptomatic. Given that NYC is one of the diverse cities in the world and students are coming from many parts of the world, SVA saw re-opening is too risky.
The statement sounds reasonable, however, students are asking why the school is announcing the update when most of the students already paid their tuition and fees or managed everything to go back to school. Students’ responses will be covered in the following section.
To protect itself against the further spread of the virus, New York began to require residents from states where the positivity rate exceeded 5% to quarantine in New York for 14 days. Initially, 13 U.S. states and territories were on the travel advisory list. Within less than two weeks, the list grew to 35 U.S. states and territories—added to that are the many individuals traveling to New York from many parts of the world.
As part of New York City’s reopening plan for schools, several very strict provisions are included. First, if the city’s positivity rate (based on testing) hits 3%, schools must close immediately. The current positivity rate has been roughly 1%; it would not take much to reach the 3% threshold. Second, if as few as two individuals in a single building test positive for COVID-19 or are symptomatic, we would be forced to close that building for 14 days, and all those with whom the infected individuals may have come into contact would be required to quarantine for 14 days. Testing and the timely return of results are essential to maintaining a safe campus environment. At present, the return of test results is taking between seven to 10 days. To have members of our community, potentially infected with the virus, interacting with one another while they await test results is a recipe for disaster.
Reopening SVA
Why students are upset?
SVA students including new and returning, are frustrated and disappointed by how late this announcement came out. Some students are saying “this is fraud.” As the school has been so firmed with their previous academic plan, which is reopening from September 28th, students already registered for classes for Fall and paid their tuition and fees. As you can see below from the comments under the official SVA post regarding the updated reopening plan, students are criticizing the school for two main reasons.
A month of preparation
The full statement on SVA Reopening Plan notes that the faculty have been preparing their online classes. One of the SVA students commented on Instagram saying “You guys were so firm on in person classes for the pass three months, and now this, so I essentially just moved crossed country for nothing, plus on top of that the tuition deadline is August 10 and you made this announcement or August 12? How is that making any sense? I’m so disappointed. Yikes.” The other student also commented that “For the past three months, you had told us so sure that in person class would be hold on campus in fall, and now you are telling me this? That’s bullshit okay? This is literally a fraud, you r tricking our money.”
Another student who is very disappointed by the school’s late announcement commented, “SVA does not care about its students. If the institution did, they would’ve done something by now. They’re a for profit. They’re not for students.”
The faculty have for well over a month been preparing their online classes, and there still remains six weeks until the start of the fall semester.
Reopening SVA
Tuition
A topic regarding tuition and fee adjustments for online courses has been a hot potato. Students are expecting lower fees whereas schools say it actually costs more for online classes. Lots of SVA students are asking the school to refund them back for the online portion. “I am so shocked that SVA decided to make this decision public AFTER we paid our tuition, expecting a in person/ online hybrid model of learning?? Y’all literally bait and switched us,” one SVA student commented on Instagram.
SVA provost mentioned on the statement that students will be waived for all departmental and course fees. SVA students are going to receive emails from Student Accounts regarding adjustments, however, obviously there are fees that the College cannot make adjustments like flight tickets for international students.
Because all classes will be conducted online, the College will waive all departmental and course fees for all students for the fall 2020 semester.
Reopening SVA
Exceptions to the fully online plan
As SVA is an art school, studios and labs will open for a limited number of students. Also, from the statement, “the SVA residence halls will remain open and can accommodate a limited number of students whose situations make it extremely difficult or impossible for them to return to or study at home,” international students might be able to stay in the dorm, if they intend to.
Access to academic facilities, such as labs, studios, and makers’ spaces will be available on a limited and appointment-only basis, with priority given to seniors for whom access to facilities is necessary to complete theses and final projects.
Reopening SVA
What does all this mean if you are an international student?
The change of the methods of instruction became trickier when it comes to international students as they need to consider visa and immigration updates and regulations.
New/ Initial status students
Per ICE’s recent guideline, newly admitted SVA students will not be allowed to come to the United States. This rule applies to returning students who were issued new I-20s, and thus, in Initial status. More details can be found in the related blog post below.
Related blog post: Latest ICE update: Initial student/ 100% online
Returning/ Current students
Current students who have been maintaining their SEVIS record active since March, can take 100% online classes while staying in the United States. Still, some students would not prefer to take 100% online while paying NYC rent. Check out the related blog post to see what your options and what to consider such as OPT/CPT eligibility.
Related blog post: New ICE guideline on 100% online for current international students
