*CORRECTION: Thomas Nelson Community College’s fall 2021 classes will begin Monday, Aug. 23. WYDaily previously reported that they would begin August 16. The story below has been updated to reflect this. We apologize for this error and any inconvenience it may have caused. -Ed.
WILLIAMSBURG — The pandemic upended college life for students everywhere with many moving all classes online in March 2020.
Even when students returned for the 2020-2021 school year, many of their classes still remained.
As COVID-19 cases started to decline and restrictions lifted around the U.S., universities and community colleges in the area reinstated in-person classes for the fall 2021 semester with the addition of some classes still being taught remotely.
The College of William & Mary (W&M) students will primarily be back in-person for the fall semester, which begins Wednesday, Sept. 1.
“William & Mary is planning for a fall semester with more than 95% of our undergraduate courses being taught in-person,” Erin Zagursky, W&M’s Associate Director for University News, said. “With very few and rare exceptions, students will be fully on-campus, even if they are enrolled in one of those few class sections that are being taught remotely.”
Graduate school classes will also be conducted primarily in-person, excluding the programs that were designed to be held virtually.
Zagursky added that with the pandemic being a fluid situation, this plan could be affected by the number of active cases and community vaccination level.
“Protecting public health within the William & Mary and surrounding communities remains a top priority,” she said. “Our planning must be necessarily flexible and, as it has over the last 18 months, will be based on current health data.”
Meanwhile, Thomas Nelson Community College (TNCC), which reopened both its Hampton and Historic Triangle campuses to the public on July 6, will offer traditional in-class instruction, hybrid courses, and online synchronous and asynchronous classes in the fall.
According to the school’s Institutional Research and Effectiveness Director Steven Felker, TNCC will see a total of roughly 2,400 students back on campuses in the fall.
There will be an estimated 1,800 students on the Hampton campus and an additional 600 at the Historic Triangle campus. Felker said that this would represent about 35% of their total expected students for fall 2021.
“We are expecting close to half of our regular enrollment students to be in at least one face-to-face class on our campuses for fall 2021,” Felker said. “That would be down from about 70-75% of students in pre-pandemic years.”
TNCC fall classes are set to begin Monday, Aug. 23.
