Out-of-state students represent 38% of the University of Oregon student community. With minimal students on campus this year, though, and the option to do school from one’s bed, not all students made their way back to Eugene this fall.
Junior Ashlyn Vincent, originally from San Jose, California, made the decision to do school from her hometown this term.
“I was home for spring quarter when we started remote, and it was nice getting into that same routine and not having to change,” Vincent said. “When I had to adjust in spring, it was a tough transition.”
Remote learning is still a new normal for most students and professors, and getting used to it can be different. Freshman Keeva Krueger is doing fall term from her hometown of Tucson, Arizona.
Krueger said she couldn’t see herself at the University of Arizona, and was excited for the Oregon weather and sporting events. However, staying home this term made the most sense for her transition to college.
“It’s been an easier transition because I’ve had the time to be home while adjusting to college academics,” Krueger said. “[Eugene] is where I want to be, and I figure that I will be there at some point.”
Krueger said it was a big move from Arizona to Eugene, and she couldn’t validate the cost of living in Oregon this term while having minimal social experiences. Getting out of her lease was no problem, she said. She was able to cancel her housing application for Walton Hall, and she will be able to fill it out again in November if she decides to move to Eugene for winter term.
Junior Jenavieve Lustyik, who chose to do school from her hometown of Bend, Oregon, this term, also had no problem figuring out a way to cover her lease. One of her friends already subleased her apartment over the summer, so having to pay for rent in Eugene was not a factor incentivizing her to come back.
Vincent’s situation is different.
“I’m paying $1,400 ish [for rent] every month for the year,” Vincent said. “I was trying to fight it, but they were like, ‘Oregon law won’t allow you to do that.’”
While these students chose not to come back to Eugene for a few different reasons, they said fear of getting COVID-19 was not one.
“I knew as soon as UO was opening again, it was bound that all these students are going to get COVID,” Lustyik said. “I wasn’t too worried about it because of our demographic, but just knowing that other people are gonna be really anxious about it. Eugene can be kind of sad with the weather and when you’re not socializing with people.”
They all agree class is better in person. Zoom exhaustion is real, Lustyik said, and the amount of screen time students have this term can be daunting.
“My chem class was supposed to be remote, but when we got into our first Zoom call he was like, ‘so it’s actually going to be online,’ so I don’t get any contact with any of my teachers, it seems like,” Krueger said. “He was like, ‘I just don’t have time to teach class on Zoom.’ That’s so annoying for me.”
Lustyik added that with everything going on in the world right now — COVID-19, and the 2020 election — focusing on online school is an even harder task. She said most students take multiple classes, and when they are all online, it is increasingly difficult to navigate.
As a result of all the screen time, she said she was “tapped out” from communicating over text and email.
“I was planning on coming back winter term and now that they’ve said it’s pretty much going to be the same thing, I’m probably just gonna take my time,” Lustyik said.
This story has been updated to show the fact that Ashlyn Vincent pays $1,400 in monthly rent, not for the entirety of the term.
