And you can quote me on that!”28 said one New York parent of four.
Higher education was also greatly impacted during the 2020 academic year, both financially and with in-person learning. Georgetown University, where I teach in a graduate technology management program, went virtual for most of 2020 and through May of 2021. The transition to online learning tools like Canvas and Zoom had mixed results of a transition. Those professors who had previously taught in either all online or hybrid-online courses were better prepared than those who had traditionally taught in-person courses for the majority of their careers. Courses needed to be migrated from in-person to online formats, specifically on Canvas. An aggressive training program was conducted to assist faculty with the transition to online learning.
Colleges and universities around the world had big impacts to their operations and revenue in 2020 and into the first half of 2021. In many instances, parents reevaluated whether their children would attend university programs for cost and safety purposes. Universities across the globe lost millions in revenue from a variety of sources including:
Tuition from international students
Room and board fees
Parking fees
Food and catering fees
Many universities compensated parents by offering them a reduced tuition fee for remote-learning options. According to the Understanding America Survey, a U.S. nationally represented study of American parents on the impacts of Covid-19, the following core conclusions were identified:
The overall impact on parents planning to send their children to university in the fall of 2020 fell by 2 percent.
Another 3 percent of parents indicated that they had changed where their children would go to university in the fall as a result of Covid-19.
The impacts to two-year community school and graduate programs had the largest impact with 20 percent of two-year programs and 8 percent of graduate programs' students indicated they would take fewer classes.
There were sizable gaps in impact by race, class, and institution type. White respondents (3 percent) and upper-middle-income respondents making between $75,000 and $149,000 per year (5 percent) stated plans to take fewer classes compared to Asian (29 percent), Hispanic (24 percent), and low-income households making less than $25,000 annually (18 percent).
Hispanic (27 percent) and low-income respondents (27 percent) were much more likely to say that Covid-19 affected a household member's reenrollment decisions, most commonly impacted by financial difficulties.29
Clemson University in South Carolina recently announced that it was freezing undergraduate tuition for the 2021–2022 academic year.30 The board of trustees “cited the financial and emotional stress of the coronavirus pandemic on many students and the families” as the primary reason for not increasing tuition.31 I believe many universities will follow suit because the impact to students and parents throughout the pandemic has been significant. I personally know many families who are pulling their kids out of high-cost universities and sending them to local community colleges for the first two years of their higher education experience as a result of complications (financial and housing) related to global pandemic. The cost savings is massive and the students don't need housing or food plans, saving parents considerable money. Once they complete two years, they plan to re-engage with their four-year school of choice. I also believe universities will start adjusting their tuition pricing for hybrid-online and all-online programs. I'm confident that smaller admission pools will drive universities to offer more affordable solutions for students that are accepted to hybrid or fully remote programs.
I asked some colleagues at several colleges and universities around the globe a few questions regarding the impacts of the global pandemic on their universities. Their answers are listed below.
Higher Education Question: What revenue impacts occurred in your university during the height of the pandemic in 2020?
University of Texas, San Antonio
We experienced a 10% budget reduction in the first year of the pandemic, which required a reduction in force in open positions while investments in remote tools increased as did adoption of the tools which really drove the value proposition positively.
—KENDRA C. KETCHUM, Vice President for Information Management and Technology, The University of Texas at San Antonio
Collegis Education
This is highly dependent on the school and their funding sources. Some schools discount tuition heavily and make up for that in residential revenue, which was disrupted by COVID. These institutions suffered. However, schools that had expensive athletic programs saw savings from canceled events and functions, which helped the bottom line. Most tuition-funded schools had some revenue volatility, some up and some down.
—DR. JASON NAIRN, VP of IT and Security at Collegis Education
University of Akureyri, Iceland
At the peak in 2020, revenue increased by 1–10%.
—HOLMAR ERLU SVANSSON, Managing Director, University of Akureyri, Iceland
Higher Education Question: Has revenue recovered to pre-Covid levels? If yes, when?
University of Texas, San Antonio
We never really gained the 10% back but our enrollments have increased, thus increasing our funding.
—KENDRA C. KETCHUM, Vice President for Information Management and Technology, The University of Texas at San Antonio
Collegis Education
In most cases no. Student enrollment numbers for Fall are still down, and we are not sure where or when the students will return. The job market is a good one for job seekers, and in those periods students will sometimes defer education for good paying jobs. Collegis and universities tend to see increases in revenue in recessive markets and decreases in bullish job markets.
—DR. JASON NAIRN, VP of IT and Security at Collegis Education
University of Akureyri, Iceland
We didn't suffer a decrease in revenue during the pandemic in 2020. We got extra funding and we had to take on extra student applications that we had rejected.
—HOLMAR ERLU SVANSSON, Managing Director, University of Akureyri, Iceland
Higher
