College

How hunger has reached crisis level on college campuses (exclusive)

By Gertrude Aziz 5 days ago

Yahoo Life has partnered with Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning broadcaster Soledad O’Brien for the exclusive premiere of the documentary Hungry to Learn (watch above). O’Brien and her team followed four college students facing the hard choice of paying for college or paying for food and housing. She discovered that an astounding 45 percent of college students are struggling with hunger. In the article below, O’Brien reports on how the hunger crisis is escalating this fall as most campuses open remotely because of COVID-19, leaving financially struggling students with no place to live or eat.

When Isabella Moles started the 2019-20 school year at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., her grades were rising. She was a leader in her sorority and on her campus. She had two jobs and a car. The school had found scholarship money to address her most vexing problem: food and housing costs she couldn’t afford because

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Business owners in college towns are ‘trying to do everything’ they can to stay afloat

By Gertrude Aziz 1 week ago

Owner Claudio Gianello stands in the doorway of his temporarily closed Café Beaudelaire restaurant, on June 23, 2020, in Ames, Iowa, where the coronavirus surge is serious enough to prompt several business owners near the Iowa State University campus to close voluntarily just weeks after reopening. <p class="copyright"><a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakCollegeTowns/865bbb449fc1427489f960e092d5d7e8/photo?Query=VIRUS%20OUTBREAK%20COLLEGE%20TOWNS&mediaType=photo,video&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=5&currentItemNo=4" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall</a></p>
Owner Claudio Gianello stands in the doorway of his temporarily closed Café Beaudelaire restaurant, on June 23, 2020, in Ames, Iowa, where the coronavirus surge is serious enough to prompt several business owners near the Iowa State University campus to close voluntarily just weeks after reopening.

AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

  • Businesses in college towns in the US are still reeling from the mass exodus of students that began in the spring and has now remained into the fall.

  • Many schools have adopted online-only approaches to learning or implemented a hybrid approach that brings only some students back to campus.

  • As their primary clientele — students, their families, and other members of university communities — diminishes, some business owners face a difficult decision: temporarily shut down again or close forever.

  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

For nearly a decade, Chris Carini has owned Linda’s Bar & Grill in Chapel Hill,

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College towns fret about census count

By Gertrude Aziz 1 week ago

PHOENIX (AP) — Betsy Landin was listed by her parents on the 2020 census as living at her family’s home in Phoenix when she really should have been counted in the college town of Tempe, where she studies finance at Arizona State University.

Also missing from Tempe’s tally was Arizona State political science major Betzabel Ayala, whose mother counted her on the family’s census form in Phoenix because she was living at home after coronavirus lockdowns led to a nationwide exodus from college towns last spring.

In yet another example of the widespread disruption caused by the global outbreak, hundreds of thousands of U.S. college students who normally live off campus in non-university housing are being counted for the 2020 census at their parents’ homes or other locations when they were supposed to be counted where they go to school.

The confusion has enormous implications for college towns, which may

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College basketball floats idea of bubbles for safe season

By Gertrude Aziz 1 week ago

The NBA bubble has held. So has the NHL’s double bubble. The WNBA and MLS, no leaks.

In this unprecedented landscape of sports in a pandemic world, one indisputable fact has emerged: bubbles work.

Thousands of tests, minimal to no positive COVID-19 test results.

So as the NCAA gets set announce its plans for the 2020-21 college basketball season, there are clear precedents and blueprints in place should it decide to go the bubble route.

“It’s certainly viable,” said Mark Starsiak, vice president of sports at Intersport, a Chicago-based sports marketing and media agency, “From a basketball standpoint, I think we can follow those models.”

The college football restart has been scattershot. The season has already started, yet 53 FBS schools have the pads and helmets hanging on hooks while waiting for better pandemic news.

A much more unified plan is in place for the college basketball season.

The NCAA

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Fall semester brings no relief to struggling college towns and the businesses that rely on students

By Gertrude Aziz 2 weeks ago

Freshman Sarah Anne Cook carries her belongings as she packs to leave campus following a cluster of COVID-19 cases at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. <p class="copyright">AP Photo/Gerry Broome</p>
Freshman Sarah Anne Cook carries her belongings as she packs to leave campus following a cluster of COVID-19 cases at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

AP Photo/Gerry Broome

  • Businesses in college towns in the US are still reeling from the mass exodus of students that began in the spring and has now remained into the fall.

  • Many schools have adopted online-only approaches to learning or implemented a hybrid approach that brings only some students back to campus.

  • As their primary clientele — students, their families, and other members of university communities — diminishes, some business owners face a difficult decision: temporarily shut down again or close forever.

  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

For nearly a decade, Chris Carini has owned Linda’s Bar & Grill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The restaurant has been serving the college town for nearly five times as long.

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A New Front in America’s Pandemic: College Towns

By Gertrude Aziz 2 weeks ago

Diners in downtown Iowa City, Iowa, Sept. 3, 2020. (Kathryn Gamle/The New York Times)
Diners in downtown Iowa City, Iowa, Sept. 3, 2020. (Kathryn Gamle/The New York Times)

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Last month, facing a budget shortfall of at least $75 million because of the pandemic, the University of Iowa welcomed thousands of students back to its campus — and into the surrounding community.

Iowa City braced, cautious optimism mixing with rising panic. The university had taken precautions, and only about a quarter of classes would be delivered in person. But each fresh face in town could also carry the virus, and more than 26,000 area residents were university employees.

“COVID has a way of coming in,” said Bruce Teague, the city’s mayor, “even when you’re doing all the right things.”

Within days, students were complaining that they couldn’t get coronavirus tests or were bumping into people who were supposed to be in isolation. Undergraduates were jamming sidewalks and downtown bars, masks hanging

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30 college towns that could face economic ruin if schools don’t reopen or have to close again this fall

By Gertrude Aziz 2 weeks ago

Montana State University
Montana State University

Classes begin for fall semester at Montana State University on August 17, 2020 in Bozeman, Montana.

William Campbell/Getty Images

  • Some college students are returning to campus for their fall semester.

  • Whether universities decide to have in-person classes or a hybrid model, college towns where students usually make up a large share of the town’s population may be greatly affected.

  • Business Insider decided to look at colleges that have a large number of undergraduates to determine which towns may be most economically vulnerable during the upcoming school year.  

  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Some college students across the country have already started their fall semesters, whether it be in-person or online. As some students choose to take online courses or are not interested in returning to college, this can affect the economy of towns dependent on college students.  

Many colleges closed and transitioned to remote learning

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America’s ‘college completion crisis’ is about to get worse

By Gertrude Aziz 2 weeks ago

Before 2020, some students in America were struggling to complete their college education — ending up with no debt and no degree.

And amid the coronavirus pandemic, there are indications that completion rates are likely to get worse.

Read more: How to pay for college: Strategies & tips

“The United States arguably already had a college completion crisis and the public health crisis is likely to make it worse,” authors from two think tanks wrote when discussing a new survey of 1,407 college students across the country.

Students at New York University wait outside of a COVID-19 test tent outside of its business school on August 25, 2020 in New York City. (PHOTO: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The poll from Third Way and New America, conducted online between August 6-17 by Global Strategy Group, found that the group anticipates that it will take them longer than usual to complete their

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Nervous About Making Friends in College This Semester? Here’s Your Go-To Guide

By Gertrude Aziz 2 weeks ago

Getty Images

In more ways than one, college is looking pretty different this year. If you’re back on campus, mandatory face masks, social distancing, and parameters set around large gatherings are just some of the ways that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may have impacted your day-to-day. If you’re not on campus, online college can pose its own set of mental and physical challenges. Due to the pandemic, college, which used to be a space that was prime for meeting new people, can suddenly feel much more isolating. But whether it’s your first semester or your last, leaning into social connections is important for your well-being—particularly right now.

“Science shows that 70% of our happiness comes down to our relationships, so it’s easily one of the most important factors for our well-being—both physical and mental,” says Shasta Nelson, friendship expert and author of The Business of Friendship: Making the Most of

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Fall college classes kick off with COVID-19 warnings, miles of Plexiglas

By Gertrude Aziz 3 weeks ago

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – After months of planning and preparation for a new semester under the coronavirus pandemic, Molly Coomes was nearly as eager as Purdue University officials to resume in-person classes this week.

Some of the details, though, would still have to be worked out.

As the masked sophomore, coffee in hand, headed to her first class on the West Lafayette, Indiana, campus where masks are mandatory and lecture halls are socially distanced, she realized her mistake.

“I thought, ‘Why did I do that?’” Coomes said of the coffee. “I can’t take a drink, because I feel like taking a mask off is like breaking a law around here.”

Things didn’t get any easier in class, which was interrupted by technical issues that crisscrossed the campus. Then her professor acknowledged that he was in the vulnerable age range for COVID-19, asking his students, Coomes said, “Please don’t kill him.”

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