The Pandemic Is Already Hitting Sectors Unevenly, Never Mind the Hitches in Federal Relief – The Chronicle of Higher Education
The effects of the pandemic hit unevenly across higher ed.
College leaders spent the past month sending students home from campuses and overseeing a frantic pivot to remote learning. Now, before they’ve even taken a breath, new uncertainties loom: Can they reopen in the fall? Will students return? In what ways will colleges have to change? Will they survive at all?
Answers to most of these top-of-mind questions are still unknown. Still, you know things are dire when even the most steadfast defender of the viability of small colleges — Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges — now acknowledges that “quite a lot of colleges are in jeopardy.”
The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are already hitting unevenly across higher education. Institutions that are tuition-dependent, with few other sources of revenue, face the most pressure. Many colleges that are members of the council or the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities or the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, are in that boat.
I spoke with Ekman and the heads of the other two groups over the past few days, as they shared the biggest worries they’ve been hearing from their members. Here’s what struck me:
I’d never heard Ekman sound so concerned about small colleges’ survival.