I have believed all along that the majority of classes in the Fall would be online, and still expect that to be the case on Friday. They have stated for months that it was their aim to do that, but left some flexibility to each department to determine what courses are absolutely necessary to be delivered in person.
I agree that the logic of delivering most of the classes online but bringing everyone back to campus, living in dorms, going to the dining halls, etc, is difficult to reconcile. I do believe that there is an (maybe large) element of $ involved in those decisions. But, these universities are in incredibly difficult positions, just like every other business, non-profit, government and family in this country. All have to make ‘business’ decisions based on many considerations, not just health. Many people have had to decide to go to work in a high risk environment in order to pay rent and buy food. I see these decisions by universities to be similar to those we each have to make. And we all have a different level of concern about the virus and our own level of risk aversion. So, no decision will be met with unanimity, they will be second-guessed no matter what.
I guess that each family has to decide what they are comfortable with. My kids do fine learning online and I am not concerned about the “quality” of the education. I am also not concerned about them having significant complications from the virus.
This situation is unprecedented and I believe that we all have to change our expectations in many areas, at least temporarily.