ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Move-in weekend on any college campus is usually a flurry of activity: Long lines of cars filled to the brim with student belongings and family members packed into a student's new dorm room as they move in.
Not this year.
Saturday was the first of several staggered, socially distanced move-in days on the St. Cloud State University campus. At times, the streets and sidewalks around the residence halls were bare.
"It looked kind of vacant," said Greg Plath. He and his wife, Nichole, were moving their oldest child, Adeline, into her dorm at SCSU Saturday.
"I saw that most of my classes were online and I considered commuting instead of being on campus, but then I eventually decided ... I was like no, I need to come. I need to be on campus," said Adeline Plath, an incoming freshman.
The Plaths moved Adeline in during one of SCSU's "drop and go" move-in days.
"It's literally like it sounds. They drop their things in their rooms and then they're able to go back home," said Jen Sell Matzke, Associate Dean of Students and Executive Director of Residential Life at SCSU.
Students register for a two-and-a-half hour time slot during one of several move-in days leading up to the start of the academic year. Six students, joined by up to two family members, are allowed per time slot, per residence hall.
They are then given the option of staying on campus, or going back home until classes begin at the end of August.
"I'm dropping off my stuff and then I'll be back on the 20th for actual move-in," Adeline said.
Sell Matzke says about 40-50% of the students living on campus this fall signed up for "drop and go" times, which will spread out the number of people on campus for move-in at any one time.
Bemidji State University and Minnesota State University - Mankato also have announced intentions for "drop and go" style move-in days.
BSU and SCSU also are requiring each student to live in their own dorm room: No roommates.
That means both schools have capped the number of students who can live on campus this fall.
SCSU's cap is 1,250 students. Sell Matzke says so far they've been able to accommodate every student who wants on-campus housing.
In an email to KARE 11 this week, a BSU spokesperson said the school had met its current cap of 500 students living on campus this fall, with another 307 who had planned for on-campus housing now needing to make alternative living arrangements.
The spokesperson said BSU was "prioritizing students who had on-campus courses or other learning opportunities on their schedules prior to July 31" for on-campus housing.
Students who choose to live on SCSU's campus this year, will see quite a few changes. In addition to occupancy limits in shared spaces, Sell Matzke says there will be single-occupancy tables in the dining hall, with the option for students to take food to-go.
She also says students living in dorms will be grouped into "packs" within their residence halls. Each "pack" will be assigned their own shared bathroom. Sell Matzke says this will reduce the risk of the virus spreading and help with contact tracing if someone gets sick.
Adeline didn't seem too concerned about any changes to residential life. She is just excited to be living on campus.
"I'll sit in the common spaces with my mask on, if that's what I have to do," she said. "I'm excited to just be here with other people."