Colleges and universities are creatively addressing how to confer degrees to students at a distance, and families are joining in the celebrations.  An image of a student graduating from Xavier University on a stage built by her father in their driveway was shared widely across media platforms this week. It seems especially important these days to find ways to celebrate such accomplishments! We send our congratulations to the Class of 2020!  The Chronicle continues its extensive reporting this week as well as Inside Higher Ed.  WCET provides updates on relevant federal policy changes.

While many four-year institutions announced plans this week for a face-to-face fall semester, community colleges are largely doing the opposite.  Community college leaders cited challenges with scaling public health safety interventions like temperature checks or COVID testing.  Many community colleges also have solely commuter populations, and thus, do not have the same residential considerations of their four-year counterparts. Ivy Tech in Indiana does plan to provide flexible fall programming including hybrid and in-person class offerings.

"As we got to looking at the fall semester, it was really a science and math problem.” - Joe May, president of the Dallas County Community College District

As campuses grapple with planning for the fall semester, Niche surveyed 10,000 high school seniors and current college students to find out what scenario they would most like to see for the fall semester. The survey results: students want to learn on campus...if it can be done safely.  Many institutions announced plans this week for a fall semester that ends at Thanksgiving or moves to remote learning.  The University of South Carolina is one institution moving in this direction for the fall. As far as tuition for the fall: 79% of students said they thought tuition should be less for online or hybrid classes.  In related news, Education Dive reports on students suing for tuition refunds from spring semester.