SYDNEY, N.S. -- The campus is empty at Cape Breton University in Sydney, N.S., and it will be pretty much the same come September.
The fall semester will be held online because of COVID-19.
MacKenzie Petrie is a Grade 12 student who is now considering changing her plans to attend CBU next year.
"I was excited to start at CBU in the fall, but now that we've moved to online classes, I'm not sure if I plan to start this fall."
CBU is the first Maritime university to cancel in-person classes for September.
While it wasn't an easy decision, school administration says the reason is simple.
"We couldn't imagine a situation, given everything that's going on and where we still are in terms of the pandemic, that we would be able to safely bring our students back onto campus in September," said Tanya Brann-Barrett, CBU's vice-president of academic and research.
It has some wondering whether other Maritime post-secondary schools might follow suit.
The Association of Atlantic Universities wouldn’t comment on CBU’s decision Wednesday, instead referring to an earlier statement that says university leadership teams across the region are cautiously optimistic about fall reopening, within public health parameters.
CBU says the decision was made early in part so it's more than 1,000 international students -- and prospective new ones -- could plan for next year.
But they say it's still unclear whether they'll be able to study online from their home countries.
"They're part of our community," said Brann-Barrett. "So we do hope that this will be extended, and they will be able to start their courses from their home countries."
As for Petrie, she's hoping the school will defer her $8,000 scholarship until fall 2021.
"I wouldn't want to be in a room with a hundred other students either," she said.
CBU says talks about what to do for winter semester are already on the agenda.
