I see a lot of people saying take a gap year. I'm the father of a daughter who's starting college this fall. Here are some things needing to be considered: - Y

I see a lot of people saying take a gap year. I'm the father of a daughter who's starting college this fall. Here are some things needing to be considered: - You've been accepted for this fall. The college is under no obligation to delay your start until next year, especially when there's a fresh batch of incoming students. - You think it's tough to enroll in classes this fall? Wait until you double the number of students all trying to take the same classes! That should be fun! - My daughter has 4 different scholarships. They're all predicated on her starting this fall. Take it or lose it. These scholarships are paying over 50% of all her costs. Since she's going to a State University that means I can afford most if not all the rest leaving her with a minimal amount of debt. - It's her freshman year. I feel more sorry for the juniors and seniors. Most freshman year classes can be done online. The more advanced the class, the more you should be attending in person. - Silver lining - incoming freshman will have to focus more on scholastics and academics and not partying. - Her major, pharmaceutical drug research & development, can't be done online. Yes, there are some classes you can do online, and most of those are in the freshman year, but ultimately you have to have in-person instruction. Especially for the labs. - Her school isn't in one of the "hot spots" and has a governor and mayor more-or-less enforcing mask laws. The dorm housing density has been decreased by 50% - which has left some of the students scrambling to find off-campus housing. All the incoming freshman are guaranteed housing. - She got her dorm assignment yesterday and the steps the university is taking to keep students safe. Daily temperature checks, contact tracing, mix of in-person and virtual classes, on-campus COVID testing with 6 hour test result turn around time, quarantine dorms, dining halls are delivery only. I should mention this university has one of the best research hospitals in the country and a huge medical complex serving the public. Finally, ask yourself this: why do you think anything is going to be any better 1 year from now? Almost every other country in the world is getting back to normal but the United States has done very little in the past 7 months and so far there's no indication that's changing anytime soon. There's no reason to believe things are going to substantially improve by this time next year unless we start taking the steps to make that so. Even a vaccine may not help as the early estimates for the cost of a vaccine is $1,000 per dose. Health insurers aren't going to want to pay that kind of money for everybody. Will the U.S. government? We blew through $7 trillion this year with very little to show for it so who knows?