For Madeline Nielander, a senior at the University of San Francisco, this coming May was supposed to be a celebratory time.
Her family was going to see her graduate with a degree in communications. Then, she was going to try to work at a hotel in downtown San Francisco with a friend of hers.
"Now, those plans have definitely dissolved," Nielander said.
Spring semester for Bay Area college seniors — usually a time filled with festivities and the excitement of future prospects — is now a frustrating and anxiety-ridden moment. For many of these students, the coronavirus pandemic is disrupting graduation ceremonies and stripping away employment opportunities just as they enter the job market. Many are already in a financially vulnerable situation.
USF has already announced that May graduation would be postponed. "I am appointing a group comprised of representatives from across the university to study possibilities for alternative ceremonies and celebrations," USF President Paul J. Fitzgerald said in an announcement last week.
"Honestly, it was a huge bummer," Nielander said after hearing about the postponement. "Graduating has been something that I thought about for a long time. I feel like it's such a huge milestone."
Nielander, who has stayed in San Francisco since the shelter-in-place order announced on March 16 by several counties, said that she's had to deal with another complicating factor: Her bartending job temporarily laid her off for 60 days without pay, with a promise to hire her back on. On Friday, she filed for unemployment.
While Nielander said she's saved up enough money to keep paying for rent and groceries, for now, she doesn't know what employment opportunities will look like after getting her degree.
An analysis by Goldman Sachs released on March 19 shows that Nielander's fears are real: The investment bank and financial services group said U.S. jobless claims could exceed 2 million this coming week. So far, in California, unemployment claims have spiked 42% compared to last year. And analysts are now speculating that the economy may plunge into the worst crisis since the Great Depression.
"I'm trying not to focus too hard on what will happen after [I graduate]," Nielander said. "Because I really honestly don't know what will happen tomorrow."
Aaron Borunda, a senior at San Francisco State University, said he'd been looking forward to this spring semester for his whole college career. He'd gotten past his core classes and could now take more advanced ones.
But ever since SFSU postponed graduation and shifted classes online on March 9, that excitement has drained. As a broadcast and communications arts major, most of his classes are almost impossible to do anymore, he said, since they normally would involve setting up video equipment and filming people.
"I know some people are kind of happy [about online classes]," said Borunda, who is from Los Angeles. "But for people that really want to learn and get their money's worth, I think we're all pretty pissed off right now."
He says he's considering asking the university for a refund. Some colleges around the country have already said they will not offer refunds, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Borunda also said his plans to stay in the city after graduation are now in limbo. He had hoped to get a job as a sound tech after school but thinks it'll be difficult since many music venues are now shuttered.
"If I could, I would love to stay in the Bay Area, but that's gonna [be] harder than ever," Borunda said. He may have to move back to his parent’s home now as employment opportunities dry up and bills start coming in. "I'm gonna be one in a million people that are looking for jobs."
Student debt is also a concern. "It's gonna be a struggle enough to figure out how I'm gonna pay rent, but paying rent on top of student loans,” said Borunda. "I'm probably gonna have only a couple hundred dollars of spending money a month."
On Friday, the Department of Education announced several changes to federal student loan policy, including that borrowers will have their interest rates set to zero percent for the next 60 days.
Jon Corn, a senior who transferred from Moorpark College to UC Berkeley, said he's worked hard to get his political science degree and is disappointed he won’t be able to walk the stage during graduation.
"[We] wanted the celebration, this sense of closure, this moment to celebrate your accomplishments and make everyone proud, because we all know it's not just you, it's everyone who has helped you along the way," said Corn, who has temporarily moved back to be with his family in Los Angeles since Berkeley announced classes were to shift online on March 10.
"It's been an emotional roller coaster, to say the least," Corn said.
Corn, who deals with a physical disability, said Berkeley was the first place where he had successfully managed to live on his own.
"[It] was an incredible challenge that I had successfully been able to overcome and manage very well," Corn said. "So the fact that there is no graduation to really celebrate my incredible accomplishments definitely frustrates me."
Corn's plan was to move to Washington, D.C., for a job in politics after graduation but he doesn't know if that's going to happen anymore.
"No one knows," Corn said. "I'm applying [to jobs]. I'm really trying to keep it as normal as possible, just applying and doing everything as I normally would."