1. What will COVID testing look like after Thanksgiving break? Will students still have access if they live near campus?

We will continue to provide on-campus testing after the Fall Break. Students, faculty and staff will still have access to continue their testing program, and we ask that they continue to do so for the safety of our entire community.

2. How do you think students’ education has been impacted by remote learning?

It is impossible to replace a fully residential learning experience, and we all miss the elements of a fully in-person semester. However, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe we have delivered an extremely high-quality educational experience to all of our students by providing a hybrid learning approach. We are confident that our courses — whether online or in-person — have provided students the opportunity to meet their learning outcomes and make progress on their degrees. 

3. Is there an update on the University’s saliva testing getting FDA Emergency Use authorization?

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is now performing its new rapid, saliva-based COVID-19 test on all students, faculty and staff. The university validated its laboratory-developed test under CLIA by successfully comparing its performance to an FDA Emergency Use Authorized test. We continue to work toward our own FDA EUA.

4. Will there still be funding for events like Homecoming that will go virtual this year?

We still plan to celebrate Homecoming virtually, and I believe it will be a wonderful opportunity to engage our students, alumni and fans across the globe with virtual programming. We hope to share more details about those activities and events soon.

5. As we approach the Nov. 1 admissions deadline, do you expect any impact on applications and/or admissions for 2021?

In order to provide more flexibility in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have delayed our Early Action deadline from Nov. 1 to Nov. 15.  We have also suspended our Early Action notification and will announce all of our freshmen admission decisions in mid-February. We don’t release application numbers or enrollment estimates mid-cycle, but I am encouraged that our campus enrollment continues to be strong year after year, and I don’t anticipate any differences this year.