My son began university this fall after a two year hiatus due to his brother's death from cancer in the fall of 2018.  He had received a full scholarship, but deferred to the following year as a result of his personal devastation.  However, in 2019, he was still unable to fully function.  As a result, due to the incredible compassion and tenacity of his academic counselor, he was able to defer one more year when he was more emotionally prepared. 

Unfortunately, we were struck with a pandemic in March of 2020.  As a result, the university decided to completely convert to on-line instruction.  My son enrolled as a math and physics student, beginning his studies in September of that year. 

This was far from the ideal scenario for him, not only because he is on the ASD spectrum and already struggles with socializing and had already been in forced isolation for six years due to his brother's cancer treatment, but because he received no assistance from his professors in these very difficult subjects and was often left to figure it all out for himself.  Luckily, most of his tuition was covered by the scholarship, but this certainly was and is not the case for many students.

My  son and all students deserve the full university experience, especially when paying full tuition.  They are at risk of severe depression and lack of academic success if left isolated. 

If the universities persist with this type of complete remote learning, they are doing an emotional and academic disservice to their students. However, if they do insist on persisting with this type of learning, tuition costs need to be seriously reduced.

I will not watch my other son die another type of death and I will not watch other students face emotionally debilitating isolation and potential academic failure.

The photo features my son, Vincent at the front of my older son's deathbed. He is second from the right.