Fear and Loathing as Colleges Face Another Season of Red Ink – By Mark Kreidler (Real Clear Politics) / Dec 9 2020
When the University of California’s Board of Regents got a close look at the numbers in September, it was the visual equivalent of a thunderclap. The massive university system, with 10 campuses and more than 285,000 students, was hemorrhaging money — $2.2 billion in lost revenue and additional costs, mostly due to the pandemic.
While some of those losses came from medical centers that temporarily gave up high-paying elective procedures in order to treat COVID patients, the bigger picture was as vexing as it was simple: In the age of pandemic-induced remote learning, the campuses were largely deserted. And when students aren’t living on campus, schools stop making money. Fast.
“Colleges and universities get very high premiums on their housing. It’s a big revenue space for them,” said Dr. Jorge Nieva of the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. “But for many, many schools right now, they just can’t operate in person.”
When they try, the outcomes have often been dire. A New York Times rolling survey of roughly 1,900 colleges and universities has tracked more than 321,000 viral infections on campus among students, faculty and staff, with at least 80 deaths. Most of the fatalities occurred in the spring, and hundreds of schools have since opted for either 100% remote instruction or severe limits on how many students may be on campus.
