Oregon State University-Cascades in Bend.

Taking all of their finals online to curb the threat of the spreading coronavirus outbreak in addition to Wednesday’s announcement that spring term would be taught entirely online has left some Oregon State University-Cascades students feeling anxious this week.

“It’s finals week, and they’re like, ‘Surprise, we’re locking down the world,’” said sophomore Lillian Chambers, nervously chuckling. “So everyone doesn’t know what to do.”

First-year student Clare Rodman said many of her friends’ normal finals anxiety was multiplied by the coronavirus situation and OSU-Cascades’ quickly changing reactions to it.

“The uncertainty of what’s going on next term, who’s going to be returning, what’s going to happen to all of our classes … it was the normal stress of finals week, mixed in with that uncertainty of life,” Rodman, 19, said.

Oregon State University, following Gov. Kate Brown’s order late Wednesday night to have all higher-education courses move online, announced Wednesday that the entire spring term at OSU in Bend and Corvallis will be conducted remotely, according to an OSU press release.

Last week, the university said all winter term finals would be conducted online, and all spring term courses would be also be held remotely, if possible. OSU’s new decision removed the “if possible” clause — there will be absolutely no face-to-face classes until the spring term ends in June.

The university is still deciding if certain courses that are hard to conduct remotely, like science labs, should be canceled or if there can be an online workaround, according to OSU-Cascades spokesperson Christine Coffin.

That worried Chambers, who is a biology major.

“For labs, it’s about being in the lab and actually doing stuff,” she said. “But now we can’t do that.”

If students expecting to earn either an undergraduate or graduate degree in June can’t meet graduation requirements due to the remote learning system, OSU will provide a scholarship up to eight credits, according to the press release.

But an actual graduation ceremony with caps, gowns and cheering families might not happen. The university has not decided whether to cancel or maintain OSU-Cascades’ June 14 commencement event, said OSU spokesperson Steve Clark.

OSU-Cascades senior Alexa Tawzer, 22, is assuming the celebration won’t happen.

“I understand why they wouldn’t want to do it,” she said. “But of course, I’d be disappointed that I wouldn’t get to experience it.”

The University of Oregon announced Thursday via Twitter that it was canceling its in-person commencement event .

Dorms on both OSU campuses will still be open during the spring term, said Clark. Both campus’ dining halls will also be open, but will serve food to-go only, he added.

Chambers and senior Devon Crane, who are resident assistants in OSU-Cascades’ lone dorm, said many students plan on leaving the dorms for home during spring term.

Passers-by could already see the effects of OSU-Cascades’ new normal Thursday afternoon. Despite it being a gorgeous sunny day, there were almost no students or staff walking around. Chandler Avenue, which normally has a half-mile of students’ cars parallel parked on its curb, was mostly empty.

Rodman, the first year student, was alone in the campus’ coffee shop that day, working on her anthropology final. She’s staying in the dorms to maintain a shred of normalcy, she said.

“If we have some sort of structure to our days, and stay in places that seem familiar, I feel like it’ll make the transition into this new period a little bit easier,” she said.

The university is working on a plan to provide laptops or tablets for students who don’t have them, Clark said. For students who will study off-campus and don’t have internet access and/or a device, OSU is talking with the Oregon State University Foundation to see if donors can find a way to pay for those things, according to Clark.

Meredith Thompson, an OSU-Cascades graduate student who’s earning her master’s in clinical mental health counseling, said she was worried that the move to online courses would make it impossible for her and fellow students in her program to conduct therapy sessions with clients. Because a supervisor has to be present for the sessions, it’s more complex than just having a chat over Skype, she said.

And because Thompson has a 12-year-old daughter who won’t be at school for at least six weeks, balancing being a parent with studying at home will be difficult, she said.

“Finding a quiet space and allowing myself three hours to lock myself away from her is going to be challenging,” Thompson said.

Still, Thompson and some other OSU-Cascades students acknowledged that moving to remote learning was the best choice, given the threat of COVID-19, the disease caused the by new coronavirus.

“I’m glad they’re taking these precautionary measures to keep us healthy,” Thompson said.

Rodman said although the transition to online learning might be rocky, students will persevere.

“It’ll be something to grow and learn from,” the first-year student said. “We’re going to have to pull up our little bootstraps and get on with it.”