CONAHEC News and Information

Not long after the COVID-19 pandemic caused colleges to start teaching remotely, students balked at the idea of paying full tuition for online learning. It’s not hard to understand why. After all, they were not getting the football and basketball games, student clubs, access to labs and the library and the out-of-class conversations that are all part of the typical campus experience.

Following news Friday that 20% of Harvard freshmen have chosen to defer, a new survey out today suggests it will be even worse for the rest of higher education with 40% of expected freshmen attending 4-year residential colleges saying they are likely or highly likely to not attend this fall. On top of this, 28% of returning students say they are not going back or haven’t decided yet. Earlier surveys from late April suggested enrollment drops of as much as 20%.

Raven Liu always thought that she had a chance, however slim it was, to travel from Beijing to the University of Southern California to attend her first semester in person, even during a pandemic.

“It’s meaningless to learn online because I study film production,” the newly enrolled graduate student said. “I can’t collaborate with my teammates for shooting, and my first year of production courses can be wasted.”

The last time the University of Mississippi campus was full of students was in May. They had come to clear out their dorms, after the coronavirus had chased them home in March.

"It was hard because everyone … was finally getting together, bonding, getting really close, like all my friends, and then we all had to leave," said Olivia Fuller, who spent most of the spring semester taking classes online at home in Chicago.