Understanding the role that non-academic factors play on students’ experience during the COVID-19 pandemic

The outbreak of COVID-19 has forced universities across the USA to close their campuses and quickly transition their classes to an online format. The pandemic caused many students to lose income, health care access and connection to their friends. This paper analyses the role that non-academic factors played on students experience in an aerospace engineering department at a public, Hispanic serving institution during the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that the pandemic is impacting vulnerable groups of students the most, therefore worsening an already existing equity gap.