I don't need backups. I'm going to Harvard.

It's August, which means a lot of college students are supposed to be heading back to campus

for the fall semester. In some cases, they're already back at school. That includes students

like Audrey O'Shaughnessy, a sophomore American studies major at Notre Dame.

Everyone's outside, talking, laying on the quad, even though we're a little further

apart than sharing a blanket everyone has their own. Masks are mandatory everywhere, including

outside, except for your personal dorm room with your roommate.

It's safe to say that freshman orientation activities and back to school tailgating

are going to look different this year. Normal campus life has been disrupted by COVID-19.

And colleges and universities are trying to figure out how to prepare as quickly as possible.

To start this week's episode, we talked to some college students about what heading back

to school looks like, and one university official who's in charge of figuring out how

to do it safely.

Okay, so back in March, when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down public life in the US, colleges

across the country also had to shut down. Students packed their bags and professors had to

download Zoom.

We were all freaking out. We were calling our parents texting like everybody we knew.

That's Caroline Garrison, a sophomore journalism major at the University of Missouri.

While her school shut down, only lasted through summer break, administrators quickly had to

start looking ahead and figure out what to do come fall as COVID-19 infections continued

to spike. Around the country, how colleges are planning to reopen varies depending on

factors like population size and location. To be clear, there are no federal guidelines

...