After a year and a half of distance learning, many students were looking forward to starting the new school year with a bang. But 1 in 5 college students has had COVID-19 and more than 1 in 10 have lost a family member, which has impacted how they think about their return to campus this fall.
A new College Pulse survey of 1,190 undergraduates finds that 19% report having contracted COVID-19 at some point during the pandemic. What’s more, 2 in 10 (21%) students are changing their fall plans because of the virus, and many of these students chose to make more than one change. Almost 1 in 10 students have decided to only attend classes remotely (8%) or not participate in an on-campus dining plan (8%) this semester. Fewer students have adjusted their housing to feel more COVID safe, with 6% arranging to have fewer roommates and 5% moving their housing plans from on campus to off campus.
However, students of color are more likely than white students to have changed their fall plans due to the pandemic. About 1 in 6 Black (18%) and Hispanic/Latinx (14%) students plan to only attend classes remotely, compared to just 4% of white students. While 8% of Asian students plan to continue taking online classes, they are more likely than their peers to have altered their living arrangements. More than 1 in 10 Asian students have changed their housing plans from on campus to off campus (13%) and/or arranged to have fewer roommates (12%). White students (84%) are most likely to say they have not changed their college plans, compared to 67% of Asian students, 72% of Hispanic/Latinx students, and 76% of Black students.
Before going back to college in the fall, do you plan on doing any of the following as a result of COVID-19? Select all that apply.
Students’ expectations about what coronavirus safety measures they’ll see on campus in the fall have changed since April, though they’re bound to shift again as universities react to the Delta variant throughout the fall. About 4 in 10 (39%) students currently expect students and professors to wear masks indoors this fall, compared to 63% who said the same in April. Similarly, fewer students expect physically-distanced spaces (43% vs. 59% in April) and regular COVID-19 testing on campus (35% vs. 53% in April).
Roughly 7 in 10 (71%) students believe colleges have the right to require students to get vaccinated before returning to campus, according to a College Pulse survey conducted in January. The most recent data suggests that few students plan on transferring because of their school’s vaccination requirement. Overall about one-third (36%) of students say their school is requiring vaccinations before returning to campus, while 38% say their school is not and 25% are not sure about their university’s policy. Just 3% of students plan on changing schools because of a vaccine requirement, while 9% are unsure. This number could increase, as almost 2 in 10 (18%) Republican students and 5% of Democrats say they haven’t decided if they’ll transfer, but overall vaccine mandates don’t appear to be fueling a rise in student transfers.
University vaccine mandates largely depend on a school’s location and which political party holds power in the state, The New York Times reports. What’s more, our survey shows that a majority of students are attending schools that already line up with their political beliefs — 52% of Democrats say their school has a vaccine requirement, compared to 15% of Republicans. More than 9 in 10 (93%) college Democrats are vaccinated, compared to half (50%) of college Republicans. White students are also less likely than students of color to be immunized; 78% of white students have gotten a vaccine, compared to 82% of Black students, 89% of Hispanic/Latinx students, and 92% of Asian students. Despite the political divides, more than 8 in 10 (82%) college students overall are vaccinated (compared to 28% in early April).
Percentage of students who have received a COVID-19 vaccine.
Among unvaccinated students, one-quarter (26%) say they are likely to get vaccinated while a majority (59%) say they are unlikely to and 14% are neither likely nor unlikely. A majority of students who are unlikely to get vaccinated say there either isn’t enough information about the vaccines (36%) or they don’t trust the vaccines (32%). More than 1 in 10 (14%) say they’re unlikely to get inoculated because they’ve already had COVID-19. About 3 in 10 (31%) students who have had COVID-19 are not vaccinated, compared to 18% of students overall.
Almost half (44%) of students know someone who passed away from COVID-19, more than 1 in 10 (12%) students have had a family member die, and 8% have lost a friend. Students who have lost a family member are more likely than their peers to be unvaccinated (26% vs. 18% of students overall), suggesting that a death in the family has not motivated students opposed to getting vaccinated to do so.
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Methodology: This survey was designed and conducted by College Pulse. Interviews were conducted in July among a sample of 1,190 full-time and part-time students attending colleges or universities in the U.S. who are part of College Pulse’s American College Student Panel.
