With hundreds of thousands of students beginning or returning to university facing new rules and restriction on what they can and cannot do is about to change the student experience.

Students will be restricted to the rule of six, meaning they must limit how many friends they see out of their household. While this may not seem to bad, the student experience when starting university is about the meeting of new people, getting to know your course mates.

This could isolate less confident students, preventing them to socialise with other students they will be spending the next 3 – 4 years with. This could have the same effect on households of more than six, with some have 7 or 8 residence per household, restricting  one or two people from being able to join socialising activities with the people they live with outside the house.

With more universities now doing their lectures online instead of a classroom does remove the risk of face-to-face interactions, it creates more risk of student isolation. With less communication with other peers, students could face a rise in mental health issues and loneliness.

With some students who are returning now stuck in contracts for student housing until July 2021, that no longer need to move as the lectures online. Resulting in them paying for accommodation that is no longer needed, creating more financial distress.

Universities are doing an incredible job at trying to keep students safe while they study, and this has been no easy task. Following covid-19 guidelines and doing what they can to help student continue their journey in education.

Are you returning or starting university? How do you think the new changes will affect you? Is your university doing online lectures? What are your concerns?