COVID and American higher education: Standing on in its head?

With a death toll nearing 75,000, close to 35 million people joining the ranks of unemployment over the last six weeks and the economy showing a negative growth of 5 per cent in the last quarter, the Trump administration is truly looking at a crisis whether it would like to see it that way or not.

A nearly US$ 25 trillion economy has literally been brought to its knees with a virus and a heated debate as to where it all originated, for a moment forgetting that all the accusations and counter-allegations are not worth the time spent on. There is not a sector that has been unaffected and one such is education where the entire framework is in the of being process re-written.

With some 5300 Universities and colleges, America has for long been seen as the Mecca of Education with many states like Massachussetts, Michigan, or California themselves qualifying for that enviable status by virtue of their first-rate institutions.

”One huge area that COVID-19 is impacting and sowing major confusion is in higher education. Colleges and universities have been thrown into very uncertain waters as they are forced to convert to online-only courses while struggling with a myriad of other issues, especially in the realm of finances” says Andrew DePietro, writing fluently in Forbes citing many American educationists and administrators.

And here is the sad part of what is going on vis-à-vis COVID 19 and the education syndrome. A country like India sees educators and regulators loudly thinking about how best to adjust to the pandemic, be it shifting of examination dates, pushing up admissions and re-openings, alternate styles of imparting education and even odd-even days in the conduct of classes for the upcoming semester. In the United States administrators and top University officials are talking about merging institutions or even shutting them down entirely with a view to making ends meet and barely at that. Add to this the fact that domestic American students are visibly agitated and have gone to courts of law seeking damages for reimbursement of dormitory and food payments; and some students are even asking institutions to pay back for an environment that has been denied to them.

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It is indeed a different story for international students who have not been left in the lurch but nevertheless in the dark as to their prospects. For those who hurriedly left their schools and returned homes, the first question is if they will be allowed to return in time for their re-opening. Second, would they be allowed to take all of their classes in an on-line mode as the new schedule speaks of and still not be in violation of their Student Visa status that prohibits them from taking all classes online. Third, what is the status of those final year students who have not completed and graduated but are waiting to use their one to three year Optional Practical Training (OPT) permit? Fourth, what about students who are waiting for their H1B visa status—would they be given additional time or have to pack their bags within the stipulated time period of sixty days? Fifth and finally, what about those international students who are in the permanent residency/ green card process? With an administration changing its tune almost every other day what is the guarantee that this segment will be unaffected if American unemployment rates continue to balloon?

Only a small percentage of American institutions are zeroed in on international students in calculating their terms of operation. This is not to say that small colleges cutting across America are not dependent on foreign students, notably from China and India, to make up for their enrollment and tuition fee—an international student pays substantially higher fee than the in-state domestic student. But still a top ranked institution like New York University boasts of the highest number of foreign students, pegged at around 30 per cent of the total student population. The top 25 Universities in the United States with most international students come from the states of New York, California, Texas and Pennsylvania. The National Association of Foreign Student Advisors (NAFSA) points out that in 2018-19, more than one million international students are enrolled in colleges and universities across America, contributing some US$ 41 billions to the economy and in the process supporting 458,290 jobs. But the perception of getting visas difficult, an anti-immigrant rhetoric and general safety concerns has led to a 7 per cent decline in International students heading the way of the United States educational institutions, it is being pointed out. The coronavirus is bound to impact this scenario and for different reasons.

Institutions in the United States including schools, colleges and universities had to make the shift to online and virtual modes of education to meet the immediate challenge of the coronavirus pandemic. But what administrators are seeing after six to eight weeks is that this strategy may have worked from a short term perspective but is unlikely to pay dividends in the longer term by way of running an institution entirely on the online/virtual mode. The argument is that faculty and staff who had to make the transition to make it successful for students. “If fewer students are successful in their courses and fewer students enroll for summer and fall semesters, campuses will see their retention rates and tuition revenues decline”, Brian Jones, Director of Admissions of Minnesota State University, has said. The bottom line has always been dollars and cents. This same problem will come to haunt higher educational institutions, especially those run privately, in India and other developing countries.

More importantly in an American context, education will always be seen much beyond online and virtual modes; and a lot of this will be true even from an Indian point of view. One of the biggest aspects of a campus life is the pre-campus tours that are arranged to give a prospective student a “real feel” for life after enrollment. These “open houses” which are also becoming a part of the Indian campus way of life is what come to be known as the “intimate” experience, as Nicole Pilar, a Counselor with Collegewise would put it. “… a college can mount a ton of webinars, but the fact remains that on-campus events are the most impactful events for students who want to get a visceral feel for a particular campus”, Pilar has been quoted. And the same would hold good for returning students as well, domestic and foreign. “Some students and families understandably balk at paying high- touch residential college tuition for a low- touch experience”, says John Pryor, founder of Pryor Education Insights.

From a global perspective, remote learning may not be all that of an easy process for international students who are aspiring to come to the United States, Europe, or parts of the Asia Pacific; and for at least two good reasons. First, the timely issuance of visas and in relaxing requirements that condition a student to be enrolled strictly on campus. And secondly, American educators make the point that differing time zones will impact participation of those enrolled even in online mode. For a country that spends about six per cent of its GDP on Education and where the education market was supposed to have topped US$ 2 Trillions by 2026, the coronavirus has for sure dented the deep pockets and for the foreseeable future.

(The writer was a former senior journalist in Washington D.C. covering North America and the United Nations.)