Author: /u/houstonanon

Hey r/houston! Sorry for the long-winded rant but looking for some insight on this situation

I am a currently a Junior at the University of Houston – Downtown and was just informed via email that the soft-opening would be extended though October 9th. Don’t know what the “soft-opening” is? If you had enrolled in face-to-face classes twice a week like myself, Tuesday and Thursday, then you would only attend class in-person once a week. Even if you were enrolled in a course that meets MWF, only one face-to-face meeting. This was originally communicated to us just a little over a week before courses began, on August 13th, and was expected to last though the end of this week. It was noted that the University would continue to monitor the pandemic and may make additional changes if necessary.

Fast forward to today (9/7), a little under a week before we expected to return to campus full-time, and we were notified that the soft-opening would be extended through October 9th. According to the message, this “time frame is when local and state health officials predict we can expect a greater decline in Houston citizens being impacted largely by the Delta variant.”

In the first message communicated to us, via the President of UHD, he writes “I am confident that these moves will not impact the quality instruction you so richly deserve.” This is a lie. As a Junior beginning some upper-level courses, I already feel quite behind as the I’ve only had a face-to-face meeting 3 times. However, 2 of these meetings my instructor had guest speakers explaining things unrelated to the course material, today was the first day he lectured. Therefore, we are expected to go home and teach ourselves the material we would have been taught on the other day. I am enrolled in 5 courses this semester, in which I only have 2 professors that attempt to connect with us via Zoom on the other intended class day.

Tomorrow, 9/8, is the last day to withdraw from a course without a grade and with a 50% reduction in charges of tuition and mandatory fees. While tuition at UHD is inexpensive perhaps compared to other Universities, this would still be roughly $2500 down the drain, should I choose to withdraw. While I am eager to complete my degree in a timely fashion, I struggle with online/hybrid courses and am hesitant on my professors ability to give “the quality instruction” in the current state.

I am curious if the University of Houston main campus is conducting a similar roll-out for the Fall semester? I was unable to find anything on their website regarding that. Should we actually return to campus on the communicated intended date, 10/11, I will have have missed roughly 25% of the originally intended face-to-face class time I enrolled for this past Spring. No reduction or refunds were mentioned in either message communicated to us. Looking for some suggestions on how to handle this or perhaps any insight on to why we are unable to be reimbursed for this lackluster start. Am I ultimately screwed because they did technically give us (1 week) notice on how this semester could unfold?

Wanted to also inform that while classes only meet once a week, I am still on campus both days that I am scheduled due to professors choosing which day they want to hold face-to-face class. I have 2 classes on Tuesday I am expected to be at and 3 on Thursday, so my exposure levels are still as they would be without the soft-opening, yet my quality instruction is not all there.

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