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Coronavirus Disease 2019
Coronavirus and College
When boiled down, there are only three viable choices for new students.
Posted May 1, 2020 Reviewed by Hara Estroff Marano
My neighbor’s daughter, Julie, having been accepted at a major university, asked me what I thought about her accepting the offer, or staying home and attending a local college until the coronavirus subsides. I asked if she had discussed this conundrum with her parents. She had, and they were willing to pick up the tab beyond the student loan, but were worried that she could contract the virus not just from the classroom but also from the lunchroom, the dormitory, and social events.
I asked if she thought she would be any less safe from the virus at a local college. No, Julie replied, but at least she wouldn’t be encumbered with a huge debt in an economic recession. She added that she could transfer most of her college credits locally to a first-rate university after the storm.
I reminded her that contracting the virus was just as likely at a local college as at a major university and that if she continued to live at home she would likely transmit the virus to her parents. “Oh my god!” Julie exclaimed, but then continued, “What if I stayed home and took classes online?”
I agreed that this was another choice but asked what she wanted to get out of college—make friends, foster a liberal education, go on to postgraduate studies—such as medicine, law, the sciences, finance, or what. Julie said she didn’t know, but she wanted to become her own person.
I told Julie that all I knew, like Will Rogers, was what I read in the newspapers—that most colleges are in a financial crisis, particularly the private colleges, outside of a few Ivy League institutions with huge endowments. Nearly all have adopted a hiring freeze, put capital projects on hold, and cut student services to the bone. They expect a 15 percent drop in students, but if the virus threatens to delay classes until November, they foresee a resumption of schooling only in January, running through the following summer. Of course, a fall surge of the virus would favor online classes.
Colleges will try to charge the same tuition with online classes, but few students may be willing to pay full tuition. Some small private colleges may reduce tuition by cutting into their small endowments, but some will have to close. Spring sports have been canceled, room and board payments have been refunded, and some students are demanding tuition discounts for what they see as a lost spring term.
To bolster freshman enrollments, a growing number of colleges are waiving standardized testing requirements for 2021 applicants, which, along with the drop of applicants, will be a big benefit to academically average students from wealthy families.
For students from non-wealthy families, who may need scholarships more than ever due to financial crisis caused by the virus, more students will take a gap year or semester.
I suggested to Julie that I could see three choices:
Stay at home for two years studying online via classes from a local college or possibly a major university. She could avoid up to a decade of heavy debt, feel less pressure to perform academically, feel free to fail online classes while earning undergraduate college credits, and envision a future career. The downside was that her social life would suffer, she would be captive to parental authority, and she could not be her own person.
Second, by attending a major university, she could charge ahead, accept the academic challenge, make new friends, have fun, and become her own person. The downside, however, was an almost certainty of contracting the virus, albeit recovering with an immunity (presumably without blood clots, kidney damage, or contagion to others), while burdened with a heavy debt into a possible recession.
The third choice was to stay at home, take a gap-year break from studies, enjoy favorite pastimes with family, garden her favorite flowers and veggies, manage the art of French cooking (see Julia Child), practice playing piano or other musical instrument, and/or join an advocacy group via Zoom. The downside is a limited social life, stuck in home-bound activities, possibly becoming depressed.
“Wow!” Julie exclaimed, "You boil it down to just three choices, but each is tied to downside risks.”
“Yes,” I said, “Being your own person means making informed decisions and a willingness to accept the consequences.”
This blog was co-published with PsychResilience.com
