During the rest of the spring semester as classes online, me and my housemates who remained off-campus in New Haven (and are each on financial aid) faced several resource-related barriers in our attempts to keep up with our schoolwork. Being forced to only use our personal wifi for virtual classes, all of our Zoom calls had to be conducted within the living room because it was the only place where the internet was fast enough to sustain a video conference call. This posed challenges when we had classes at the same time and there would be clashing audio because we were all in the same room. Beyond classes, slower internet also meant that my work as a CS major was stifled because online resources had a harder time loading. If the SIC were eliminated (including the non-billed portion), a stipend would’ve perhaps allowed us to afford because internet which would’ve helped alleviate these challenges.
Jack Huang, He/Him, 2020, Franklin College
