Harvard University moves classes online for next academic year but fees stay the same at $50,000

Harvard University has announced that all learning for the next academic year will be done remotely – but says tuition will remain at nearly $50,000.

The announcement came as federal immigration authorities say international students will be forced to leave the US if their schools offer classes entirely online this fall.

In a statement released by the university, officials said ‘all course instruction (undergraduate and graduate) for the 2020-21 academic year will be delivered online’.

Harvard said it will invite first-year students to live on campus, but classes will stay online.

‘Students will learn remotely, whether or not they live on campus,’ school administrators said.

The university said that it will bring up to 40 per cent of undergraduates to campus, including all first-year students, for the fall semester.

‘Assuming that we maintain 40% density in the spring semester, we would again bring back one class, and our priority at this time is to bring seniors to campus,’ the statement reads.

‘We also will invite back to campus those students who may not be able to learn successfully in their current home learning environment.’

Unlike Harvard, Princeton University is offering a 10 per cent discount to students since classes are mostly online. Harvard’s tuition will remain the same.

Meanwhile, international students have been targeted by new federal guidelines that were issued on Monday, requiring them to leave the US if their schools offer classes entirely online.

Those attending schools that are staying online must ‘depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction,’ according to the guidance.

The guidelines, issued by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), provide additional pressure for universities to reopen even amid growing concerns about the recent spread of COVID-19 among young adults.

President Donald Trump has insisted that schools and colleges return to in-person instruction as soon as possible.

Soon after the guidance was released, Trump repeated on Twitter that schools must reopen this fall, adding that Democrats want to keep schools closed ‘for political reasons, not for health reasons’.

‘They think it will help them in November. Wrong, the people get it!’ Trump wrote.

Under the updated rules, international students must take at least some of their classes in person.

New visas will not be issued to students at schools or programs that are entirely online. And even at colleges offering a mix of in-person and online courses this fall, international students will be barred from taking all their classes online.

It creates an urgent dilemma for thousands of international students who became stranded in the US last spring after the coronavirus forced their schools to move online.