Posted on 09/20/2020 4:27:59 PM PDT by CheshireTheCat
As bad as the COVID-19 lockdown has been in any number of sectors of the US economy, colleges and universities have been hit particularly hard. Restaurants and movie theaters have physical plants that continue to cost them money regardless of whether they are serving food or showing movies. Hotels have it even worse, because they are far more expensive to maintain. But colleges and universities have it worse still. Their physical plants include not only housing and dining facilities, but also recreation areas, classrooms, and expansive grounds. In addition, colleges and universities have staff that often number hundreds of times that of hotels.
Unlike restaurants, movie theaters, and hotels, colleges and universities do have the ability to offer their product remotely. Students with their faces planted firmly into Zoom calls have become the new normal pretty quickly. But when a quarter to almost half of a university’s income comes from room and board, it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly that those Zoom classes are gutting college and university revenue streams.
Making matters worse, foreign students are staying home in droves because of both the virus and US policy. This might not sound like much, but universities obtain more than twice the revenue from the typical foreign student than from the typical American student. Foreign students have been subsidizing American students for years. And now they aren’t.
The upshot of all of this, according to NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway, is rather disconcerting. In examining some 442 US universities, Galloway estimates that more than 20 percent could fail because of the lockdowns, and that another 30 percent will struggle to remain open. That’s 50 percent of US colleges and universities at very serious (or mortal) risk...
(Excerpt) Read more at theohiostar.com ...
Parents and students will demanding tuition discounts soon. They are paying tuition for in-person instruction, not the University of Phoenix.
Chemistry and Physics had labs, with several TV sections sharing a facility. Lots of fun.
I wasn't aware of TV sections for Women's Studies and such. There were TV sections for history, English, EASL, and other soft courses.
The Music department limited enrollment to the capacity of their classrooms and practice halls. (Hard limit on organist students.) Theater classes were held in a packed auditorium.
As for those top professors, they didn't teach, except when they took grad students under their wing. Their big thing was scoring large grants for their research.
If the 4 year bachelors degree enrollment were reduced by 80%, the “students” and the nation would both be better off.
I guess every tragedy has an upside.
Nah.
They'll just get property taxes doubled or tripled.
Great news!
Ridiculous, it all changes Nov 4th. There will be a miraculous opening of the world.
They’ve been failing for a very long time ... now they will just not be graduating indebted failures.
Then eggheads will need to get real jobs.
There is always a silver lining somewhere in tragedy.
“Then eggheads will need to get real jobs.“
With what skills?
I’m sure those liberal, socialist universities with huge endowments will share their wealth. /sarc
One of my colleagues sums up on-line classes well: only the most prestigious and cheapest will succeed. People will only pay a premium if the degree is from a prestigious university. Universities in the middle have their work cut out for them.
“Protect STEM programs, Business, Trades”
I suspect that these things will take care of themselves.
I suppose that Womyn’s Studies and comparative culture professors can probably learn to code. With their razor-sharp minds capable of highly complex levels of applied logic and reasoning, this should be a good fit.
Except in the hard sciences where you need a lab, this is long over due. Tired of paying for womyn’s studies Marxists.
It’s a start.
At my school, we had “distance learning” in the SEVENTIES. The video was transmitted one-way by microwave and interaction was done by phone.
...”Richard Feynman.”
His lectures are STILL electrifying.
Or coders, remember?
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