December 2, 2020
The financial impact of the pandemic on the United States’ colleges and universities and their students is staggering. Higher education institutions across the country have made remarkable efforts to adapt to this unprecedented situation. However, the impact of the pandemic on enrollment, student need, loss of revenue and State funding, and Covid-specific costs has been significantly worse than expected.
To address the unprecedented revenue losses, increased costs, and growing financial need of students, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges along with more than 100 other organizations signed on to a letter written by the American Council on Education advocating for Congress and the Administration to finalize their negotiations and pass a support package. Students and campuses across the country are in dire need of support.
In the letter, supporters wrote:
“The situation currently facing America’s colleges and universities is a crisis of almost unimaginable magnitude. Colleges and universities have already pushed their financial capacities to the limits in addressing this crisis. As detailed above, campuses are now dealing with a massive, accumulated loss of revenue that is likely to grow worse in the near future, and in most areas will persist for several years. This is taking place at a time when nearly all operational costs have significantly increased, to a degree beyond what could have been reasonably expected. The result of this has been devastating and widespread: programs have been closed; schools have drained what reserves they had and most troublingly for institutions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics more than 484,000 higher education employees have been laid off since February, more than 12 percent of the overall workforce. This excludes the truly tragic loss of educational opportunity and continuity that so many students have experienced. The current situation is unsustainable for an extended period and at this point there are simply no other sufficient options for institutions beyond meaningful federal assistance. That support is needed urgently.”
