OCC PLANNING COMBINATION OF IN-PERSON AND ONLINE CLASSES FOR FALL SEMESTER

Onondaga Community College has submitted its plan to SUNY for the fall 2020 semester. It includes a combination of in-person and online classes. Classes begin Monday, August 31.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, the College has made numerous changes to support student learning and living, and to ensure safety for all members of the campus community. Those changes include:

• All learning spaces were measured to determine maximum allowable density.
• Schedules for labs which require in-person, hands-on learning will be staggered for density purposes, allowing all students the opportunity to receive in-person instruction time from faculty as they normally would.
• Some classes will be a combination of in-person and remote. Example: a class with 18 students which meets three days a week may have 6 students in-person Monday, a different 6 students in-person Wednesday, and a different 6 students in-person Friday. Students not in physical attendance will interact with the class and their professor virtually and in real-time. If a student becomes ill, he or she will be able to keep up with classes and coursework from a distance.
• Some classes will be delivered entirely remotely—either in real-time or in traditional online formats where students participate on their own schedule.
• All residence hall bedrooms will be singles (one student per room). There will be no doubles or triples. Students living in suite-style units will continue to share common spaces in those suites in small, “family-style” groups.
• One of the College’s four residence halls will remain empty and reserved for quarantine purposes, if necessary.
• Students will move into residence halls during a staggered, four-day period in mid-August. Students will undergo a health screening upon arrival.
• Two of the campus’s three entrances will be open and everyone who comes to campus will undergo a brief health screening every day. Students living in residence halls will also be screened daily. Since campus reopened as part of Phase 2, everyone entering campus has been screened daily. Screenings will continue as long as recommended by New York State.
• All classroom, residence hall, and campus common areas will be cleaned and disinfected on a daily basis.

All on-campus instruction will conclude prior to the Thanksgiving break, and any activity following Thanksgiving until the end of the semester will be done remotely so that students do not travel and then return to campus.

“We look forward to welcoming students back this fall in a safe learning environment which will allow them the opportunity to work closely with our outstanding faculty. We’re confident our plan will enable all of us to come together and provide students the education they need to build the future they imagine,” said OCC President Dr. Casey Crabill.

OCC is unveiling five new programs in the fall semester including:

• Electromechanical: Drone Technology AAS
• Geospatial Science and Technology AAS
• Health Sciences AS
• Sound Recording AS
• Health Studies certificate

Also, OCC’s first-in-the-nation Box of Books program, which cut student textbook costs in half, will return in the fall at an even lower price. Student textbook costs are calculated on a per-credit-hour basis rather than the sticker price. Due to the program’s success in its initial year, the per-credit price is being reduced from $21.50 to $20.50.

Tuition for full-time students during the 2020-2021 academic year is $2,545 per semester.

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Onondaga Community College is a two-year college located on a 280-acre campus in Syracuse, NY. OCC operates under the State University of New York (SUNY) system and is locally sponsored by Onondaga County. We are the first public college in the nation to partner with Barnes & Noble College on the “Box of Books” program which provides students with flat-rate, predictable pricing for textbooks and technology. OCC is an Achieving the Dream college and has been named a “Military Friendly” school by G.I. Jobs Magazine for its service to student veterans. The College’s commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility has earned it recognition as a “Green College” by the Princeton Review, a “Cool School” by the Sierra Club and a “Sustainable Campus” by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. A 2019 report titled “The Economic Value of Onondaga Community College” shows students enjoy an attractive 21.7% rate of return on their educational investment. For every dollar of support from state and local governments, taxpayers see a return of $3.90 on their investments. The average annual rate of return for taxpayers is 9.3%. OCC’s 17 athletics teams have won 16 national championships. Learn more about the College at www.sunyocc.edu