IUP limits campus access for fall classes

Thousands of students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania who thought they would head back to campus this fall learned Monday that will not be the case.

IUP will be offering both in-person and online learning when classes resume Aug. 24. But only incoming freshmen, international students, graduate students and those whose classes require face-to-face instruction will be permitted to return to campus, university President Michael Driscoll announced.

“While most of our fall plan is unchanged with the rebalanced approach, we are making changes to reduce the number of students returning to campus for face-to-face instruction,” Driscoll said in an email.

It’s unclear exactly how many students will be affected.

IUP spokeswoman Michelle Fryling said the school, which has residential accommodations for about 3,000 students, expects it will house about 1,500 to 2,000 students this fall. Officials have limited housing in university dorms to reduce the density of the student population in an attempt to mitigate the spread of covid-19.

Fryling said IUP is anticipating about a third of last fall’s approximately 9,800 students will be on campus when classes resume on Aug. 24. The remainder will be limited to online learning much like last spring.

She said IUP has set aside a quarantine residence with its own air system and entrances to house up to 170 students.

Fryling encouraged students facing financial hardship to log onto IUP’s website and apply for assistance either through the school’s Emergency Response Fund or the federal CARES Act.

Residential colleges and universities across the country that planned to reopen campuses this month have been announcing last-minute changes to fall plans as covid-19 numbers surge.

At Saint Vincent College in Unity, which will be offering a mix of online and in-person classes, officials have reduced dorm capacity by 25%.

Like IUP, the University of Pittsburgh has devised a plan to limit density at its Oakland campus, which is offering a mix of online and in-person classes. University officials said a quarter of its incoming freshmen will be housed in local hotels.

It’s unclear just how many students will be returning to campus this fall. Last fall, Pitt enrolled about 28,700 students at its Oakland campus.

Other colleges and universities have gone one step further, shelving plans to reopen campuses.

Last week, California University of Pennsylvania announced that dorms will remain shuttered and most classes will be offered entirely online this fall at the Washington County school, which enrolled about 6,900 students last fall.

California and Indiana are among 14 state-owned universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. At least six other PASSHE universities — Clarion, Edinboro, Slippery Rock, Millersville, East Stroudsburg and West Chester — previously announced plans for a fall semester limited largely to online learning.