Has COVID killed the dream of a 'full college experience' for university students hoping for so much more?
When Macey Holland signed up to do an agriculture degree at university she was looking forward to making new friends, getting her hands dirty on the farm as part of her course and enjoying everything university life had to offer. But it hasn't turned out quite like she had hoped and Ms Holland, like many other students, is finding that university life is not all it's cracked up to be  thanks to the unpredictable nature of the COVID pandemic. As universities around the country start pitching to their 2022 recruits, they're promising the "full college experience" for country students forced to relocate to cities to live and study. But the reality is that COVID has meant large numbers of tertiary educators have been slow to return to the office for face-to-face learning. Now some parents of students are realising that they are not getting the university experience they paid thousands of dollars for and instead their children  especially ones from regional areas who have moved to cities  are feeling lost, isolated and short-changed. Macey Holland is hoping for more on-farm classes next semester. ( ABC Rural: Eden Hynninen  In Ms Holland's case, the pandemic has forced many of her first-year animal dissection and farming classes online  leaving her with little time spent in the field  or the lab. Like many rural students, Ms Holland relocated from her home in Serpentine, in northern Victoria, to Melbourne for her tertiary studies. She says she is finding the move and the experience "quite challenging and quite different", but she says she is trying to adapt and make the most of what's on offer. "But it is sometimes a bit frustrating, and I find myself a little less motivated," she said. "A big part of the agricultural industry is networking, and building relationships with people for future opportunities. "So when that gets taken away, at no-one's fault, it does make you worry about what the future might look like." My daughter doesnt want to go back  Karen Brown, from Sale in eastern Victoria, spends $265 per week for her daughter, Bridget, to live at college in Melbourne to attend university. But the first-year speech pathology student has barely slept in the room, because of the huge disruptions to university classes this year. When COVID happened Bridget high-tailed it out of there and came home and has never really been back since, Mrs Brown said. She could have easily driven down to Melbourne for the hour of face-to-face that she had, and come home again.  Karen Brown says Bridget's not keen on returning to university. ( Supplied: Karen Brown  When Karen and Bridget looked into their college accommodation contract, they discovered they were locked into paying for 42-weeks rent  more than $11,000. She doesnt even feel like going back now," Ms Brown said..  "But unless you can fill the room, which is impossible, you cant get out of it. I dont mind paying it, and her going down there if she was getting the same experience, but shes not,  Shes not meeting anyone doing the same course, theyre sitting in their rooms and not experiencing any of the good bits about going to uni, Mrs Brown said. 'Not what it was cracked up to be'  University life is not at all what she was expecting for first-year science student Brianna Conidi either. The 19-year-old moved from Shepparton in northern Victoria at the beginning of the year to study and live at a residential college in Melbourne. But since starting her degree, she has spent more time at home than on campus. "I've found it quite challenging, I struggled to learn on my own in a room by myself," Ms Conidi said. "I had one class a week in person and two pracs for a different subject in person. "I found it really difficult to make friends with other people because you're not really doing anything with others, you're alone studying." Brianna Conidi says she has spent more time at home than at university since she started her degree. ( ABC News: Courtney Howe  Brianna's mother, Wendy Conidi , said the past two years had been financially challenging for the family. Family members are chipping in for her daughter's degree and accommodation. "Brianna took a gap year after finishing year 12, and that was the year that she was going to have an earning capacity to set her up to pay for university," Ms Conidi said. Wendy Conidi and her daughter Brianna say this year has been financially challenging. ( Supplied: Brianna Conidi  "But with the impact of COVID, it meant that she was out of work for a long period of time, so this year she's needing to work and study. "As a parent, it isn't something that you'd want them to have to do." The family pays $265 a week for Brianna to stay on campus, so Ms Conidi hopes more face-to-face classes will resume soon so her daughter can get what she's paying for and have a proper college experience. Student support  James Hardiman, Dean of students at St Hilda's College at the University of Melbourne, offers support and guidance to students like Ms Holland and says he has noticed a drop in student morale during COVID-19. "I think there have been a lot of challenges for students, in the way of managing their own wellbeing and mental health," Mr Hardiman said. "And I think that is likely to diminish the [university] experience and the way students learn and engage with that content." But he said, despite the move to online learning, students living at the residential college were provided with more support than many students living off campus or in a share house. "We have programs like sport, we have tutorials that they can have here with our staff and wellbeing activities," he said. James Hardiman is the Dean of students at St Hilda's College at the University of Melbourne. ( ABC Rural: Eden Hynninen  Return to face-to-face learning  Some of the nation's most popular tertiary institutions like Monash, The University of Melbourne, The University of Queensland and The University of Sydney told the ABC that 80 to 90 per cent of classes will hopefully be available face-to-face next semester. La Trobe University in Victoria said about 70 per cent of its tutorials were scheduled to be on campus this year. It is also said that in 2020 it provided residents with the option to return home without financial penalty and paused all rental payments so they could continue to retain their place on campus accommodation. As she looks towards a career in agriculture  Macey Holland hopes the promises ring true for her and other students. "We can't get everything from an [online] camera angle, when you're there yourself there's things that you want to look at, want to see," she said.