I think that is a great point about application rates and covid bubbles. I believe many parents were willing to invest to get their child into a “bubble” learning environment. In so many places globally, education suffered and there was a wide variance in the ability of schools to deliver on quality education.
One example: one private school had to chaperone international kids over the christmas break as the parents did not want the kids returning home at the risk of not being allowed back into the school/country due to travel restrictions.