We're three and a half weeks from the start of the new academic year, but still don't know how many students will actually be showing up in our online classrooms. A good third of the new students who "deposited" at the start of the summer seem to be choosing to defer for a semester or a year - understandable - but we don't have figures for continuing students. I'm cautiously unoptimistic. I generally don't keep in touch with students over the summer but I recommended four from the past year's classes for a special honors program a few weeks ago, and when I let them know I learned that only one of them will be here this coming semester. Two are taking the semester off (though they're still coming to NYC, from California and Missouri), and the fourth has decided to continue her studies at a university nearer her California home. Another student, a Virginian who was to serve as an "academic fellow" for one of my fall classes, is also sitting the fall semester out. Ouch.
