This editorial reflects the general opinion of The Spectator staff.

In a recent Faculty Senate meeting, President Richard Carvajal revealed that VSU, along with several other universities in Georgia, will be making a big push to bring students back into the classroom and severely cut the number of on-line classes in the near future.  

The university will be creating numerous new in-person courses for the 2025-2026 school year to convince students to do more face-to face learning.  

Many students and faculty may see this as a good thing, as much of the world has been trying to get back to in-person contact since the start of quarantine in 2020.  

However, in a post-pandemic world, is getting completely back on- campus learning even possible? On top of that, is this really what the students of VSU need?  

Survey says no, absolutely not. Going back to exclusively in-person learning is going to cause more harm than good.  

When quarantine began, the world was scared, lonely, and desperate to get back to normal. Going online was not entirely taboo, but many schools, universities and institutions were still operating traditionally.  

Entering the (at the time) new online world was a strange and confusing experience where everyone had to play everything by ear. It was a culture shock to say the least.  

But just because things were foreign did not mean that they were inherently worse. In fact, many students found the experience to be comforting.  

Commuters who had to go a far distance could save their money on gas. Students with social anxiety and personal dilemmas did not have to worry about public embarrassment or judgement.  

Many people discovered after much trial and error that online classes were much easier for them to keep up with without a teacher standing over them every day.  

Although the world initially panicked at the overwhelming change, we adapted and learned to appreciate the convenience of being able to work from a distance.  

Nowadays, the university has definitely readjusted to in-person classes (for the most part). However, trying to resume how things were would be physically and mentally draining.  

So many students have come to shape their schedules, workflows, and personal lives around being able to work from home.  

Many VSU students must commute long distances just to attend their classes (some traveling from as far as Florida).   

With that said, many students have come to appreciate a hybrid schedule where they can take most of their classes online without having to spend hours of their time commuting alone.   

Besides time constraints, going back to in-person would be very economically straining on students.  

At this point in our lives, saving money is a top priority. Between juggling part-time jobs, trying to afford rent and having to pay for our classes, we as students have to be able to stretch our dollars.  

Many students also have an easier time learning from online courses where they can process information at their own pace.  

Pushing students to go back to learning completely in-person is not going to attract more students to the university. If anything it is going to repel them.