Due to the outstanding amounts of COVID-19 outbreaks, universities across North Carolina are being forced to finish their courses online. Many of the classes students are taking are challenging as is; now it may be even more difficult for students to pass due to lack of access to internet or factors beyond their control within the home environment. I along with many other students believe that passing the entire UNC System this semester would benefit everyone including staff and faculty that are dealing with this outbreak.  

Virtual instruction for the duration of the semester would cause a great deal of difficulty for students to receive the adequate attention they need from professors. With virtual instruction in place, this prevents meetings with professors and teacher assistants in person. Causing lack thereof to precious communication needed for our academic endeavors. While we can still interact with our professors and teacher assistants via email, phone, and video-calling, there are limitations including one's time zone, and wireless internet availability that need to be in consideration. This puts a strain on students who are in self quarantine especially, due to the fact that although they may be able to access everything through the internet, they aren’t focused on recovery and safety precautions. This administers the problem that schools don’t want to keep the health and safety of their students their primary goal. There are students who prefer and need in-person instruction rather than online instruction due to their own self-discipline and educational habits. Forcibly having to adhere to these circumstances will greatly affect their performance within their studies. This also jeopardizes the mental health of students who have to continue doing school work, "attending" class, and figuring out when to eat and sleep while maintaining a regularity that is not possible with this system.

Furthermore, the UNC System has done a great job providing limited dining, recreation, and student activities for the students who have resided on campus throughout spring break. However, the next step that is needed for our institutions is to take every single undergraduate, graduate, professional, and certificate students into consideration when making a firm decision on courses for the remainder of the semester. Offering a pass option for classes for the Spring 2020 semester helps alleviate some of the stresses caused by measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and will allow students, as well as administrators, advisors, and instructors to further focus on taking the necessary precautions during this epidemic.