A sign displaying COVID-19 distancing measures at a University of Saskatchewan residence. (Logan Stein/650 CKOM)

By Logan Stein

University of Sask. students prepare for school year

Aug 31, 2020 | 6:08 PM

University of Saskatchewan students have spent the last few days preparing for the upcoming school year, with many of them moving into residence from in and out of the province.

For students who have already lived in residence before, this year’s moving experience has been quite a drastic difference.

“It definitely feels extremely weird, last year I was able to have my parents come up to my room and help me set up,” Taylor Sim, second-year student at the U of S said. “This year we are only allowed one other person in the room at a time.”

One positive that students noticed was the lack of lines and wait times getting into their suite.

“It was a very fast process getting my key card, very efficient,” said second-year student Jessica Gill.

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Distance learning has created some barriers for students throughout Saskatchewan.

Sim and Gill both said a big reason they chose to move to a residence, despite the online classroom setting, was because of poor internet services in their rural communities.

“The internet in rural areas can be very bad,” said Sim.

For students moving to Saskatoon from outside of the province, they are very grateful to have the opportunity to be close to the classroom. Even if they only have online classes at this time.

“I’m very happy that the university is giving people like me the opportunity to be on the campus, I’m glad I have living accommodations as I am not from the city,” said Karan Veer who moved from Alberta to attend the university.

George Foufas, director of consumer services for the university, said they have seen a very steep decline in students moving into residence this upcoming term.

“We have been moving students in over the last few weeks, there are a lot of different circumstances right now,” said Foufas. “We will have around 500 students living in residence for the first term, we usually have around 2,100 living with us.”

Foufas added that there are a lot of different measures for students living in residence this year. Such as limiting room sizes to allow students to have more space, as well as fewer people having to share washrooms.

“We are happy to welcome students into residence, we understand that for many people it was difficult to do online learning because of where they lived.”