While all students all around the world are affected with this terrible situation, those in or entering college are on the top of the list due to the INSANE costs of college and the economic impacts including a weaker US dollar and employment interruptions,
My son is a HS senior and while we hope that the impacts of a vaccine are in place by the time he starts in the fall, there are still many unknowns.
One thing we may be faced with is the amount of students that differed admission from 2020, increasing completion for acceptance as well as aid.
Again, these tuition prices are absolute INSANE. Colleges also are tax advantaged so for them to be rising their prices during a pandemic amid increased applications shows that this is one of the most lucrative and corrupt markets we have to deal with.
DD is a firstyear at a SLAC, one of a few that actually increased tuition for 2020-21. At first, I was disappointed in their decision because I thought it came off as being tone deaf. Then she arrived on campus.
The school purchased their own testing equipment and hired staff to operate it. They instituted a mandatory universal quarantine for all students. They arranged for food delivery to students in their dorms, delivered thousands of packages from books to items left at home. They purchased a hotel in town to house students who needed to be isolated or quarantined after the initial period. They bought tents and fire pits and picnic tables to give students places to be outside. They developed one of the most comprehensive and successful Covid plans and were profiled by CBS, CNN, The Wall Street Journal and others. The cost was astronomical (quite a few million dollars) and yet… They had fewer than 50 total positive cases between students, faculty and staff, made it through their scheduled departure in late November and hadn’t had a single positive case since the first week in October. Keeping DD and her school community is priceless.
I’m not sure what you mean by “lucrative”. I mean, i agree that the upper admins are overpaid, but that’s not where the vast majority of the money is going. There are no owners or stockholders. (Unless you’re talking about for-profits, but they’re a different story, and I don’t recommend.)
Some colleges are facing huge financial losses due to Covid. Room and board dollars help cover operating costs, and colleges lost an enormous amount of money by sending students home in the spring and staying remote in the fall. The spring semester won’t be much better and at this point we can only guess what next fall will bring. Providing testing for Covid and switching to remote/hybrid learning isn’t free or cheap, so expenses are increasing.
What’s the alternative to raising prices? There are a limited number of ways to balance the budget.
Endowments can help some, but they’re not designed to cover operating costs. And even if they’re tapped once in an emergency it’s not intended to be a permanent funding source to cover budget shortfalls.
Staff (secretaries, food service workers, maintenance crew members) can (and have) been laid off or taken buy outs to retire early. Positions are being consolidated so some of the staff who remain are doing the jobs of 2 or more people.
Programs and majors can be consolidated or eliminated. Fewer majors and fewer courses within the majors that are left will make getting into majors and the courses required to complete them more competitive.
Nontenured faculty can be let go. Contracts are simply not renewed and requests for additional hires are rejected. This will reduce the number and breadth of courses departments can offer. They can’t offer electives if the basics can barely be covered. It will increase class sizes because there will be fewer classes majors can take to meet the requirements.
Tenured faculty can decide leave. Given the choice between retiring and doubling their class size – while being expected to teach multiple versions of each class (because some students attend in person and some attend remotely) – some senior faculty will choose retirement. Adjuncts can be used to fill immediate holes, but that’s not a long-term solution. It only buys time so departments can make adjustments to their programs.
My advice to families who are choosing colleges for next fall is to do plenty of research.
How likely is it that the college your child wants to attend can weather the financial storm without going bankrupt?
Is the major your child wants likely to withstand cuts? If it’s a program and not a separate major I’d be wary.
How many faculty are in the department(s) your child is interested in? A department with 16 faculty members has better odds of surviving than one with 5 or 6.
What percentage of department faculty are tenured and how many are visitors and adjuncts? How do those numbers compare to last year and the year before? What’s the visitor and adjunct faculty turnover rate? Visitor and adjunct contracts can be renewed several times before faculty legislation requires that they be hired permanently or cut loose, so if there’s frequent turnaround in these temporary positions that’s not a good sign.
I disagree that young people who are able to attend residential college are at the top of any list counting the negative impacts of this pandemic. Individual cases will be, of course, but as a whole those who are able to afford the luxury of residential college aren’t going to make the lists simply due to rising college costs and a tight job market. They can take a gap year, choose less expensive colleges, commute to save room and board dollars, and make the choice not to take on debt. Will admissions to the most popular colleges be more competitive? Probably. But so is the job market for my colleagues at colleges all across the country whose jobs have been sacrificed in an attempt to balance the budget.
It’s not an easy time for anyone. I understand the frustration and disappointment families feel when the residential college experience they envision is different than what they had hoped for, but I think it helps to look at the situation in context. If we still have our jobs, can still cover our mortgages or rent, and still afford to pay the college costs for our children (residential or otherwise) we’re so much better off than many other families. This then becomes a simple business decision. Our college budget is x. Maybe we’re willing to pay x + y. Any college that comes in higher than that is off the table. In my opinion, there’s no place for emotion in business. Maybe you should try that strategy and see if it helps.
Purdue spent $55 million on Covid protections, yet reduced tuition for those who opted to study from home, and announced the 12th year of tuition freezes up through the '22 - 23 school year. Forbes recently had an article that they have managed to increase staff during that time period (student teach ratio is down to 13:1) and increase salaries by 12%. Facilities are second to none.
Also agree with @austinmshauri about residential college students not being on the top of the list of those negatively impacted by Covid. Not even close.
In terms of majors or departments in danger of being cut, also consider the number of students in the major and the amount of research money the department brings in. If there are few students in the major and the department brings in little research money, it it likely to be more in danger than other departments.
Those who were able to attend residential college are probably still in a better position than other college students who previously were financially limited to commuting to a nearby college – the latter students are more likely no longer to have the money to attend any college.
Regarding lucrative, the market conditions has caused panic buying of assets and funds to very overvalued states. If you are investing correctly you saw record returns during one of the most disturbing times.
I wouldn’t expect a return to sanity any time in the near future, even after the vaccine. Right now community college is a booming industry. Parents are finding that it’s not really worth spending $30k+ a year for their kid to be in an expensive dorm taking classes online. The schools spent millions building the online infrastructure, so they have every reason to charge high tuition, while keeping them in online classes.
The best bet is to start at community college. At least you can save yourself the cost versus a university.