What if more than 20% of today's higher education institutions are wiped out by the Coronavirus? To say this is impossible may be naive. MacMurry College is the first one mentioned in a Wall Street Journal piece dated April 30, 2020, "Coronavirus Pushes Colleges to the Breaking Point, Forcing ‘Hard Choices’ About Education". They are closing their doors permanently in May. How many other current institutions used by name in our HD world will cease to exist when the dust settles on the fallout from this pandemic? These are truly remarkable days.

Don't even get me started on the ability of this nation to over react and inflict pain/suffering on the majority to protect the minority.

I am not sure why you think anyone gives a rats *** about what you think mully about a tangential topic.

I read that article too favre. I suspect that closures will be rare. Like most business's, the ones that face huge debt obligations are going to really face the risk of closing if they have a massive drop in income/revenue. It was mostly the small liberal arts colleges that don't have big endowments and/or states that are willing to lend them money that will close.

I suspect 10-50 or so colleges will close, and it's probably the 10-50 that were likely to close in the next 20 or so years anyway.

Always classy Trenton. No surprise there.

Ha, I thought you would respect my "trust the market" answer!

i will say this... living in a college town is quite scary right now.

the whole economy is really based around having these kids on campus. even if there are only a few that close (i dont dispute that).... what if some of the students get a taste of online education and decide thats for them and then there is an overall decline in on-campus learning?

Maybe this will make some colleges look at how much they are paying for coaches and some tenured professors. I agree it is really only going to hurt some of the smaller ones.

I will say, I’m a current high school student getting online school and I have not wavered one so ever about wanting to be on a college campus and I don’t know any kids who have.

MacMurry was most likely going to close before the covid-19 scare. They had scheduled talks and meetings going on regarding the future of the school months prior. This did make the decision much easier, but they were most likely shutting down anyways.

Not to take away that you have a very valid point. A lot of smaller schools may be in trouble though, especially if they don't have an on campus fall semester. I would imagine most schools are fine through the summer, but if it continues, we may see more closures.

The real fear is what happens if they open up and then have to close again . Educationally, you can come up with a plan. The plan isn’t ideal but it’s ok. Economically, it might be to much for some schools to bare.

To a lesser degee, the same thing is happens inNJ to catholic schools. If you depend on tuition, you were in debt to start, and this virus impacts your ability to collect tuition you are in serious trouble unless you have a institution willing to loan you money.

It's not a part of HD but D2 Urbana University here in Ohio shut down permanently a few weeks ago.

i am glad to hear that bulls!

and now that i think about it, i guess i would say the same. theres an important social aspect to college that you dont get when you do it online.

im not sure about the "highly paid coach" gripe, indy.

i am pretty sure that in most if not all of those highly paid coach situations, the program as a whole is a huge money maker for the athletic department.
obviously you could choose to pay your coaches less, but then your program might be less successful and you that team might not be as profitable... and then end result would probably be that cross country team or fencing or gymnastics gets cut.

My son is in the 4th grade and he's thriving with online learning. He really loves it, but he wants to see his friends and have that atmosphere of being at school again.

Posted by indyrider123 on 5/2/2020 12:03:00 AM (view original):
Maybe this will make some colleges look at how much they are paying for coaches and some tenured professors. I agree it is really only going to hurt some of the smaller ones.

Most tenured professors I know (and I know quite a few) make the same as public school teachers. The real cancer to the troubled finances of the academy are in administrative bloat. My university has increased tenfold in 20 years the number of suits making six figures working downstairs to push papers, play with "assessment," and do research on what the university may or may not need. Our basketball coach is the highest paid employee on campus (Top 25 team), but our program brings in lots of conference $ and students and we typically do well as a school when the team plays well (current moment excluded).