Returning to Campus in the Spring

Dear Goucher Community,

With housing and spring semester registration beginning next week, we wanted to share additional details on the housing process and contingency planning for spring.

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Goucher will be providing isolation and quarantine housing on-campus (this is a change from our original fall semester plan) to ensure that support is available around the clock to our students. With that, Goucher will have 723 beds available for students this spring.

While we hope we can provide housing for all students who express interest, decisions will be made in the following order: (1) first-year students & special petitions, (2) student-athletes, (3) sophomore students, (4) seniors, and (5) juniors, then (6) students residing less than 25 miles from campus. The academic affairs and student affairs staff will also do everything they can to take specific requests and situations into account.

All students, regardless of year, should submit a housing application if they have any interest in living on campus for the spring 2021 semester.

Starting November 9, students can log onto The Housing Director to submit their “Spring 2021 Housing Application” located under “applications” on the left-hand side of the webpage. All students, regardless of previous fall plans, need to submit the housing application if interested in residing on campus in the spring. No previous housing applications will be considered. Applications are due November 13 by 11:59 pm, and students will be notified of their housing status by November 23.

We know there is a lot of information to consider and that many questions will arise. Please do not hesitate to contact the Office of Residential Life at residentiallife@goucher.edu.

We’ve also received questions about contingency plans if we need to continue remote learning in the spring. We are very much aware that at present, the U.S. is experiencing an increase in coronavirus cases and that the next two months will be especially difficult for our nation. However, we have many reasons to realistically expect to safely invite students back for our residential learning experience on February 8, as the vast majority of students have requested. Unfortunately, it is impossible to guarantee this option because we will continue to base our decisions on the progression of the virus, and the most current science and health recommendations, which are ever-changing. Therefore, we will continue to develop our backup plans in the case that we are not able to return to campus and have added, for example, three tech-free days at regular intervals throughout the semester.

We’ve heard some requests to elongate the semester and discussed that possibility with Center Directors. However, after thorough consideration, the Center Directors decided that it would not be feasible due to the impact on students’ plans related to graduation, ICAs, June term courses, summer jobs, and wanting to avoid last-minute changes that would further disrupt student lives. We are very aware that in this pandemic situation, we are forced to choose between multiple non-ideal options and that pandemic learning has created mental health stress for students across the country and that this will continue into the spring despite our best planning.

We remain fully committed to sharing all our plans as they are finalized. In fact, we expect to post more detailed information about our spring plans on our website as soon as next week. Again, thank you for your patience and resilience as we navigate this challenging time.

As always, reach out with any questions.

Be well.