At the Townhall, they tried to assure us that current students won't be affected. Yes, they are right in one sense, that we will still get to complete our degree as a Yale-NUS student. However, they forget to think about the future. 

When we join the working world, we'd have to be prepared for "oh the school that was cancelled" responses when they find out that we come from YNC. We'd have to explain that it merged with a non-existent college and is now horribly named "The New College" (honestly, did they even try here). Also, some of our professors are finding opportunities elsewhere (rightfully so), which means that we will have lesser modules to choose from. Some of the remaining modules will definitely have our future employers questioning its usefulness. 

What about those who applied for and accepted YNC as they are completing their NS? They were supposed to matriculate in 2022/2023, and they would probably have rejected other universities already. They are now presented with two choices - either to accept that they would be going to a not-so-prestigiously named "The New College" or reapply to another university, and pay the increased school fees. (For those who didn't know, your school fees are fixed at the rate in which you accepted your place, and every year, school fees increase for the incoming batch.)

We already no longer get the opportunities that our seniors got to have because of financial reasons and the pandemic (e.g. international experiences), and I'm guessing we'll get even less now that this is a school that's about to close down.

Yes, you can imagine, the atmosphere here is solemn. 

Side note: The announcement was made after the payment deadline for our school fees. Additionally, everyone has already chosen their modules and for the freshmen, their courses - too late to switch to other universities now. Coincidence? I'd think not.