We know it’s been a challenging year, and it’s hard to believe that we’re now in the final push of the spring semester. With just a few weeks left of classes (and then final exams), your student might be experiencing some stress about closing out the academic year. Here are some helpful tips and resources that you can use to help support your student finish the semester strong.

1. Remind them that there are a lot of resources available! Your student will have final papers, labs, projects, and exams between now and the end of the semester. If your student needs help in any of their classes, tutoring sessions are available right through the end of the final exam periods. If your student isn’t sure how to communicate with their professor or how to ask for help, encourage your student to reach out to their academic advisor for assistance. Sometimes students need help processing the feelings that come with end of the semester stress, and university counseling services are available to help.

• Provide some good old fashioned inspirational support! Some fun snacks, a motivational note, maybe an iced coffee at just the right time…these small displays of support can help your student feel cared for and motivated for that final burst of energy needed for the end of the semester. Reminding your student that you are in their corner rooting for them can provide some serious emotional support when things feel overwhelming.

• Encourage Sleep and Routine! We know that the idea of pulling an “all-nighter” can seem like a college rite of passage, but sticking to a consistent schedule and getting enough sleep will help your student be successful with the end of the year.  Encourage your student to make a list of everything due between now and the end of the semester and then have your student schedule times that they will work on each specific assignment.

• Venting is Ok! Your student will be feeling lots of things about the end of the school year. It’s been a tough year in ways nobody could have anticipated, and your student will be going through a transition as they close out the year. Give your student the space to process and the time to vent. Sometimes just having someone to listen can help students feel ready to move on and tackle whatever is next.

Remember that the university is full of faculty and staff that are here to support you and your student and to help your student achieve success at UMass Lowell! Never hesitate to reach out if you or your student needs anything!

Email communication to Students: March 18, 2021

Dear Students,

As you plan for next academic year and start scheduling your classes beginning March 26, I’m excited to share with you that UMass Lowell plans to return to full on-campus operations for the Fall 2021 semester.

With vaccinations accelerating nationwide and multiple semesters of COVID-19 lessons learned and effectively implemented behind us, we believe we will be able to create a safe, social and interpersonal living and learning experience for all our students on campus.

This spring we’ve already increased our on-campus populations in classrooms and our residence halls. We’ve all learned through their absence just how important person-to-person interactions are.

We will continue to adhere to national and state public health guidance in place, if any, come September. And while campus operations may not look identical to 2019 when the semester begins, university services ranging from student activities and the Rec Center to research and dining will all be finalizing and posting plans on the UMass Lowell website in the coming months to move as close to normal as possible.

And for the second consecutive year, UMass President Marty Meehan is recommending a tuition freeze, a move Chancellor Moloney and her administration strongly supports.

We certainly recognize that COVID-19 won’t disappear. In addition to continued enhanced cleaning and other public health measures, our weekly surveillance testing will continue. With a 0.4 positivity rate during the 2020-21 academic year out of more than 40,000 tests performed, UMass Lowell’s testing program has been essential to our ability to move forward. Thank you to our students for your responsible behavior in keeping our campus and our communities safe.

As vaccinations progress and the status of the virus is monitored, it is our hope this spring to be able to have more on-campus activities, especially outside as the weather gets warmer.

Given this trajectory, we also are planning for a different kind of Commencement celebration. While the formal ceremony will be virtual and streamed, we hope to have students receive their diploma covers in person in the Tsongas Center. Students, accompanied by two guests, will walk in, receive their diploma covers, have a photo taken, and walk out. Masks, social distancing and other risk reduction measures will be in place throughout. More details will be shared as they are finalized.

While we’re proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish during the most challenging year in memory, a university is its people and the discoveries and creations that come from their interactions.

We have so much to catch up on and I can’t wait to see you on campus again this spring, and in classes this summer or in the fall.

Sincerely,

Joseph Hartman

Provost

We share a common goal: helping your student succeed.

The Office of Family Programs will give you the information and resources you need to support your student’s academic, social, career and leadership goals. Together we can help your student make the most of their time at UMass Lowell.