by Brett E. Kennedy, Managing Director
Before I share some perspectives on the potential impacts of the our current global crisis on college admissions, I want to extend my sympathies to those in mourning as COVID-19 has taken the lives of many around the world. While first this is a public health emergency, the simple reality is that that Coronavirus has created a shock to the American higher education system. With a rapidity not seen often in colleges and universities, thousands of colleges that used an in-person model of classroom instruction nimbly shifted to delivering their course content online. Further, the impacts of COVID-19 on the American economy remain uncertain. At the time I am writing this, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped from very near 30,000 a few week ago, to closing on Friday, March 27 at 21,636. This means that many colleges now find their endowments reduced, which in turn means fewer resources to weather this storm. This means also that families who are invested in the market have seen a drop in their portfolio value. As America has moved to social distancing as a model of combating the spread of Coronavirus, many businesses are having to reduce worker hours or even do layoffs. This means for many families wages have been curtailed or become uncertain.
What impacts do I predict that Coronavirus will have on college admissions? First, I think this enormous storm in the American economy will create concerns for most normal American families about paying for college in the immediate future. I see this benefiting the lower cost state universities and community colleges in the short term. Second, I think that COVID-19 will encourage the trend among colleges to become test-optional on the ACT and SAT as they worry about achieving their enrollment goals.
Third, I think that quick shift to the model of instruction to online will call into question the real value of in-person classroom instruction. If you can deliver the same content online in a less costly way, why not offer this model regularly to students particularly when they are concerned about the costs?
As this crisis moves in a dramatic way from city to city in the United States, we simply don’t know when this public health crisis will end. How this changes behaviors when the crisis ends remains a cloudy picture. The only comfort I can offer is that we are all in this together. I certainly understand the concerns of families about cost in these uncertain times. I stand ready offer my services to help families find a college that is a right fit, academically, culturally and yes, financially. And yes, I am affordable.