Here’s how NJ colleges & universities are handling coronavirus

In response to the COVID-19 coronavirus, there's a majority of New Jersey colleges and universities migrating to online learning.

As the novel coronavirus has been notching presumptive positives cases over the past week in just over half the state's 21 counties, many schools have opted to extend spring break with the hopes of fine tuning their response plans.

Princeton University announced March 11 that “all students who are able to must return home and stay home for the rest of the semester.” The school said the more students who leave, the easier it will be to care for those who may become ill and to manage the eventual impact of this virus. For some students who cannot yet return home, Princeton “will work with these students to ensure they can remain on campus with our support."

New Jersey City University in Jersey City will move to online instruction beginning Monday, March 16. Classes are scheduled to resume in a face-to-face setting on Monday, March 30.

Camden County College will temporarily move classes to online instruction until further notice. Classes will be suspended at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 14, for student spring break, which has been extended through March 29. Classes resume remotely on Monday, March 30. Accommodations will be made for students without access to a computer or the internet.

Hudson County Community College starts spring break a week early, March 16 through March 29. Virtual instruction will be carried out Monday, March 30 through at least April 6; possibly longer depending upon changing circumstances.

Raritan Valley Community College has extended spring break by one additional week, which now will be from March 9 through March 20. At that time, RVCC will make a decision about the status of face-to-face classes at the Branchburg campus. The campus will remain open to "provide students with whatever services they need, including access to computers, advising, counseling, and tutoring." The RVCC Resource Center and Food Pantry will also be available to students.

Middlesex County College has canceled classes at the Edison campus and the New Brunswick and Perth Amboy centers between Saturday, March 14 and Tuesday, March 17. From Wednesday, March 18 through Friday, March 27, instruction will take place online. All college offices and services will remain open. All on-campus events between Saturday, March 14 and Friday, March 27 are canceled.

Mercer County Community College will move instruction on both campuses to remote platforms, effective Monday, March 23.

Union County College is temporarily moving instruction online. From Monday, March 16 through Sunday, March 22, all course instruction will be delivered remotely. The college will remain open and students will have access to designated computer classrooms on the Cranford, Elizabeth and Plainfield campuses.

Georgian Court University's Lakewood campus is closed from March 11 through March 15. On Monday, March 16, most classes are moving to online formats.

Brookdale Community College canceled in-person classes through Sunday, March 15. All facilities at the campus in the Lincroft section of Middletown are closed until Monday, March 16.

Rowan University extended its own spring break to two weeks, March 16-28, to allow faculty time to convert course material to be delivered remotely beginning March 30, if necessary.

Monmouth University canceled all classes (face-to-face, hybrid, and online) for the remainder of the week, with spring break beginning as scheduled on Saturday, March 14. Staff will report to work to prepare for the possibility of delivering all courses virtually, starting March 23.

Kean University will begin remote education for all campuses on March 16, with plans to resume normal instruction March 30. Kean also canceled out-of-state travel for five athletic teams during spring break.

Rutgers University announced that Thursday, March 12, through the end of spring break on Sunday, March 22, classes are canceled. Beginning Monday, March 23, through at least Friday, April 3, all course instruction will be delivered remotely. Rutgers also canceled road trips for some athletic teams and Rutgers suspended its study abroad program.

Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences classes with more than 15 participants will be carried out remotely beginning Monday, March 16. The school also said students living in campus residence halls should leave as soon as possible. All events and in-person meetings involving groups larger than 15 participants are canceled through April 15.

The College of New Jersey will conduct all classes online following spring break, from Monday, March 23, for a period of two weeks. The school also encouraged any students who return to campus to practice social distancing, and will require them to take classes online as well.

Seton Hall University suspended all in-person classes beginning Wednesday, March 11, through Friday, March 13. Classes resume online beginning Monday, March 16.

Stockton University has extended spring break by a week, through Tuesday, March 24. All classes will resume online March 25 through April 5.

Rider University has extended spring break an additional week through March 27. “Rider is also preparing, should we have to cancel in-person classes, to ensure continuity of our classes and operations.” International and other resident students who cannot return home will be able to remain on campus with food, maintenance, Public Safety and other services provided.

Bergen Community College extended spring break through the week of March 16. The campus remains open and classes are set to resume Monday, March 23. The college is continuing to work on plans in the event it decides to close or make changes beyond March 23.

At NJIT in Newark, classes will take place virtually until further notice once the school returns from spring break on March 23.

Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken has moved all classes to on-line instruction through April 5. The Stevens campus remains open at this time. To reduce density on campus and limit potential transmission of COVID-19, some employees have been given permission to work remotely. Some offices are rotating staff on site and remotely to ensure coverage of essential tasks.

Fairleigh Dickinson University will switch to online-only classes starting Monday, March 16.

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