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College Revenues Shrinking During Coronavirus Pandemic

Char Freedberg

   U.S. colleges and universities are bearing a greater financial impact
   from the coronavirus pandemic than anticipated, education officials
   say.

   And they are asking for help.

   The schools received $2.9 billion in federal support through the
   [1]Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March,
   and another $2.9 trillion in assistance is proposed through the
   [2]Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES)
   Act.

   But aid for the educational institutions was already lagging from
   reduced funding since the 1980s, accounting for tuition and fees
   tripling in the past four decades. Universities responded by
   [3]increasing their costs.

   "Over the past several decades, there has been a substantial shift in
   the overall funding of higher education from state assistance, in the
   forms of grants and subsidies, to increased tuition borne by students,"
   the [4]U.S. Treasury Department reported in 2012.

   When the pandemic hit -- sending students online, shutting down
   campuses and diminishing enrollments -- university coffers lost more
   than $120 billion, "especially in areas such as testing, contact
   tracing, quarantine, treatment and learning technology," [5]wrote Ted
   Mitchell, president of the American Council of Education, to the U.S.
   House of Representatives on Sept. 25.

   UConn request

   The University of Connecticut (UConn) has used up $35 million it moved
   from the budgets of its Storrs and regional campuses, according to the
   school. It is asking for a state allocation of $28 million that, added
   to $13 million from its current fiscal year, would make up for
   shortfalls in funding.

   "We know that we have already cut substantially over the past several
   years, and this $28 million additional round of cuts will cause pain at
   the university," Scott Jordan, UConn's chief financial officer and
   executive vice president for administration, said in a [6]statement
   published by the university.

References

   1. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/caresact.html
   2. https://appropriations.house.gov/sites/democrats.appropriations.house.gov/files/Updated%20Heroes%20Act%20One%20Pager_0.pdf
   3. https://brokescholar.com/absurd-rise-in-college-costs-comparing-tuition-and-fees
   4. https://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Documents/20121212_Economics%20of%20Higher%20Ed_vFINAL.pdf
   5. https://www.acenet.edu/Documents/Letter-House-Fall-COVID-Supplemental-092520.pdf
   6. https://today.uconn.edu/2020/09/uconn-absorbs-significant-spending-cuts-still-needs-state-help-covid-costs/

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