2 On Your Side: Uncertainty Over College Plans For Fall 2020

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - Graduating senior Carter Wells was supposed to head to Cal State San Marcos for his freshman year.

But when he learned that all CSU schools would continue remote learning through the fall semester, he says, "We looked at the numbers and it just wasn't worth it."

So Wells will now head to community college. His mom Holly admits finances were a consideration.

"You think you're paying all that money, but they're still at home and they're learning online," she said.

Jennifer Djavadi, an education consultant who primarily works with college-bound seniors, says before incoming freshman decide to take a gap year, they need to ask themselves what they will be doing.

"Typical gap year experiences - travel, or a mission, or a job - are simply not likely to be options this year," Djavadi said.

She says if college seniors opt to take a gap year, many universities have made it known they may not accept community college classes done during that time.

"The current estimate I am seeing is that 20 percent of 2020 graduates are going to be deferring," she said. "So that means already from the gate there will be 20 percent less seats on any given university across the country."

Providence High School counselor Louann Katz-Curtis says only a handful of their students have decided to change plans due to remote learning.

"For some families they want their child to have that traditional college experience, living in the dorms, and for other families having their child start college is really the priority," she said.

It's not just graduating high school seniors who are being impacted: Jennifer Schiff's son Adam is a freshman at the University of Denver. They've just learned he's no longer guaranteed housing in the fall, and they expect remote learning to continue.

"It's certainly not the college experience that we had in mind and that he had in mind when he decided to go to college," said Schiff. "Everything is up in the air at this point."