Higher ed groups press for federal support for coronavirus response
As the coronavirus and the respiratory disease it causes, COVID-19, took hold in the U.S., colleges rapidly began to move courses online and assess how the situation would stress their budgets.
Taking instruction remote has short-term costs, especially for colleges that lack a robust online infrastructure. In the letter, the groups recommend the government provide $7.8 billion in funding “to ensure that institutions are supported in the transition to distance learning”and students don’t lose access to instruction, noting that some students lack a viable internet connection away from campus.
Many institutions have asked students to move out of campus residences. While some of those colleges are giving students partial refunds for room and board, doing so eats away at key revenue. Such auxiliary services will experience immediate revenue declines, Moody’s Investors Service noted in a report this week.
