There’s no way around it — COVID-19 is changing the world as we know it, and though many models suggest that life will go back to the way it was before this pandemic; coronavirus will have long-term effects on businesses, economies and the way we interact with one another. In Pennsylvania specifically, experts such as Jared Walczak, a director of state tax policy at the Tax Foundation, suggest that we are not well-equipped to handle the economic impact of COVID-19.
A few weeks before the pandemic began, Gov. Wolf unveiled his 2020-2021 budget plan, which included increases in funding for public education and a new scholarship for higher education students. However, COVID-19 has begun to raise questions for many about how PA will recover from this, especially in the field of higher education, where funding was already lacking.
West Chester University has accommodated students as best they can by providing devices for online learning and allowing students in certain situations to stay on campus. Special Education major and Editor-in-Chief of the Quad Sam Walsh predicts a long-term effect on higher education, saying, “I think that less students will be able to come back to college, and there will have to be more scholarship and funding opportunities in order to help get students back on track.” She believes that COVID-19 should be a wake-up call to how little funding higher education gets. “When a global pandemic hits, there is zero ethical reasoning behind why the richest country in the world should not be able to provide opportunities for people to finish school without worrying about where their next meal is coming from.”
Quad Managing Editor Kirsten Magas has predictions for the future. “West Chester University is like a business. West Chester University thrives when there are students buying education. For a lot of students, attending a university is an experience that involves social activity and a physical presence on campus,” says Magas. “A lot of universities are already looking into online courses for the fall semester. If you take away the experience, I predict that you’ll have a lot more students looking into less expensive options, like local community colleges.”
Students aren’t the only ones facing a new reality; professors, too, are seeing how higher education’s funding, or lack thereof, affects this new reality. Seth Kahn, an English professor and APSCUF member, said, “…the WCU administration has done a remarkable job managing the transition online under incredibly difficult circumstances. […] they’ve been about as supportive as they can be with resources students and faculty need so that we can finish the semester.” He continued, “…many faculty knew, and the rest of us are learning quickly, that teaching online is hard, and it’s expensive. […] That’s why we need more financial support, not less.
In an article from “Inside Higher Ed,” writer Joshua Kim predicts that COVID-19 will have a lasting impact on how universities teach. He predicts a dramatic increase in blended learning as well as online education becoming more of a priority for universities. However, as Dr. Kahn points out, “If we’re going to do [online education] well, it will require a significant investment in training and in technology. Many of us need specialized apps and hardware we can’t afford to and shouldn’t have to provide ourselves.”
Another way COVID-19 may affect higher education is with the rate of enrollment. In a national survey of 487 students by the Art & Science Group, one in six of 4-year college-bound students “appear to be near the point of giving up on the idea of attending a 4-year college or university.” 17% of respondents are either definitely or most likely going to change their plans of attending a 4-year university as a full-time student. 63% were concerned about being able to attend their first-choice school because of the university due to a myriad of reasons, but “first and foremost among these, financial.”
In an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer, “the state’s 14 public universities are projected to lose from $70 million to $100 million this spring semester.” According to Inside Higher Ed, FAFSA completion rates are also dropping.
For a state system like PASSHE, which has seen drops in enrollment since 2010, the impacts of COVID-19 could be detrimental to an already-struggling system. In a video message on March 28, Chancellor Dan Greenstein said, “Our financial circumstances were very challenged before the pandemic. They’re more challenged now.”
Alison Roller is a fourth-year English major with a minor in journalism. AR875447@wcupa.edu