With the lockdown, students have been forced with the difficult decision whether to get locked down at home with their families or within halls with other students. Whilst most courses are online, there are a select few courses that still consist of face-to-face lectures, meaning these students didn’t have the choice. However, others had the pressure of deciding where to go, with one of the main concerns being the lack of knowledge on how long this lockdown could last for with the rules changing without warning.
University students have been impacted since the start of the pandemic with their education purposes. With courses that are heavily practical, like Film Production, being forced to be moved online restricts the quality of learning that the students are receiving as well as opportunities to use the equipment. With the current lockdown in place, students have restricted access to materials from universities, with things such as borrowing out media equipment being out of the question because of COVID-19 guidelines.
This presents issues with completing assignments to the best of their ability since they may not have the materials required at home and government restrictions could clash with assignment briefs. Because of this, there have been changes to what is expected of students in assignments, such as the no detriment policy presented by the University of Gloucestershire, providing the students with a bit of a safety cushion and comfort in knowing that the circumstances will be taken into consideration.
However, it isn’t only the educational side that needs to be considered by people: there is also the mental health side. Students have been put in the difficult position of choosing between family and friends, which is incredibly tough, especially for some.
“For me personally, I chose to come back due to my course as I am back in person some days so, for me as a learner, this is better. Socially too, my mental health is much better being surrounded by my friends and those who can help me with my work,” said Rhiannon Andrew, a Primary Education student. “I have a really close relationship with my family. I facetime them pretty much everyday and communicate frequently. It’s has been really hard not being able to see them, government restrictions make it worse as I’m not allowed to.” This shows how, although being around friends is beneficial, there is an impact for students being unable to see family since they haven’t even got that choice there anymore that they did in their first semester.
If students choose to go back to halls, they may not know how long it would be until they can see their family again, but, if they choose to stay at home, they are paying upwards of £100 weekly in most cases to rooms that they aren’t using. Some universities have offered refunds towards rent in University halls to students, although this has been after movement from students themselves in the case of UoG. They came to the decision to give students the chance to regain 45% of the fees for the third semesters rent, which is equal to 15% reduction overall in rent.
“I feel my mental health is significantly better at uni – since being back, I would say it’s impacted me positively,” said Kieran Everest, an international business management first year who decided to stay in halls for lockdown. “I can keep regular contact with my friends over zoom and I live about a 20 minute walk from work so I am able to have a part time job to supplement my student loan.”
Whilst Kieran has impacted positively from being at university for the lockdown, other students, such as Lauren Fox, a first year criminology student, decided to go home and even contemplated ending their contract in halls fully after experiencing very few face-to-face classes since the start of university life.
“I stayed at halls for the second lockdown and attempted to for the third one but, after a week I felt incredibly stressed and isolated as I didn’t know when I would see my family again as they never announced an end date. I have felt so much more comfortable being surrounded by family,” said Lauren Fox. “I have contemplated ending my contract as I feel like I am wasting so much money on a room I’m not living in. However, university requires you to have reason such as a mental health issue to be released which I feel is unfair as the pandemic should count as an unseen circumstance.”
With all thing considered, it leaves the questions of how students are finding their lockdown lives. Whether home or halls, students have had different experiences of what they expected of university in summer 2020, since we are now in the third lockdown with no clear end in sight.
By Chloe Hall
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