Colleges across the country are switching to online schooling, and the adjustments for students is just as difficult as it is for professors.

“You have to teach yourself new material which is difficult”, said Dom Chrzanowski, a criminal justice major at Bucks County Community College. “The biggest difficulty is reminding myself to do work since I’m inside all day and I tend to do other things and forget about my work”.

The online schooling is a result of the now globally known pandemic, the coronavirus. Bucks is one of the schools that has transitioned online. The coronavirus has over 400,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. currently.

The virus’s effects have been felt globally and schools are just one of the many different facilities shut down. In some states, it is required for only essential businesses to be open and some states have even put curfews on for all residents.

Colleges nationwide are now having to adjust and learn the ways of online learning. Some college courses can’t be taught online due to labs that are required in class and for some, it’s been difficult figuring out solutions to these problems.

Schools are scrambling to figure out online learning and for some students, the switch has been hard, but for some, it’s been an easy transition.

“The biggest difficulty for me has to be keeping up with all the assignments. Although that’s a challenge, it’s been a relatively easy transition”, said Matt Beagen, a physical education major at Bucks.

“I procrastinate a little bit more because I don’t have a professor telling me when things are due like they would during a face to face class”, said Skyler Hoffman. Skyler is a journalism major at Bucks and thinks the online school gives a sense of convenience to the students.

“I have way more free time on my hands now with the switch to online, so I’d say it’s easier to keep up with work now. I just need to work on not procrastinating my work and do it before the day it’s due”, said Hoffman.

Some students think the online class is just the same as keeping up with the work aspect. Justin Citron, a West Chester University student said, “It’s just as easy to keep up with work, maybe a little easier with the online school”.

The pandemic has not only affected school but daily life. Many states are under laws that don’t allow any residents to go outside unless it is for essential living. Students are beginning to miss the face to face interaction that comes with school and other daily activities.

“I like how I have more time to do my work, but I absolutely hate not being able to see my professors face to face two times a week”, said Hoffman. “I’ve only had three zoom classes in the last three weeks of this semester since going to online classes. I wish it was more because I like to interact with my professors.”

Chrzanowski said, “I like that I don’t have to get out of my bed to do my work, but I do miss the face to face interactions just because I feel like I haven’t seen anyone in months. I just want to talk to people and have things go back to normal.”

Safe to say that while online school is convenient, students do miss seeing professors and other students in their classes as well. For others it’s not a big deal. Beagen said, “I do like face to face, but I do enjoy being in the comfort of my own home.”

“I prefer face to face, but I don’t really mind online schooling,” said Justin Citron, Bucks student.

The last time a disaster like this caused colleges to go online was Hurricane Katrina. The natural disaster caused 20 colleges in the southwest to go all online for months. This is not even close to the scale we are seeing today.

During this difficult time, it can be difficult for students to keep up with work and colleges are attempting to find solutions to the many problems and questions they are facing.

The number of cases has rapidly increased since going online and they don’t show signs of slowing down.