BATON ROUGE - Summer break is over, and thousands of students will be back in the classroom at LSU under new COVID mandates Monday .

"I'm optimistic about this year," LSU senior Bryant Randel said.

He's expecting for the fall semester to be as close as possible to normal with the university's added COVID restrictions.

"Because they say we're going to fill the stadium this year and we're going to have in-person classes again," Randel said.

"I have not had an in-person class in a year and a half," LSU junior Katie Bowlin said.

But the accounting major believes college life won't be the same this semester.

"Things have looked different here the past year and a half, and I'm afraid that it's still going look different this next upcoming semester," Bowlin said.

Mask mandates and social distancing will still be in place. But new regulations this fall included regular COVID testing for the unvaccinated, and vaccinated students must show proof they had the shot.

The vaccine will be mandatory at LSU once it gets full FDA approval.

"Personally, believe it should be my decision to make, not the university administration's," Bowlin said.

The FDA is reportedly hoping to give the Pfizer shot full approval as soon as this week.