Gov’t Response to COVID ‘One of the Tipping Points’ for Several Colleges Shutting Down

It seems the effects COVID had on the world are still unfolding. When the pandemic first began, store shelves were picked clean, masking and social distancing were enforced, and public facilities had to close its doors to the public — some temporarily, while others never re-opened again. But according to The Hechinger Report, education is one of those areas where COVID’s sweeping influence remains, reporting that “colleges are now closing at a pace of one a week.”

BestColleges.com outlined data points that revealed at “least 59 public or nonprofit colleges have closed, merged, or announced closures or mergers since March 2020.” They also estimated “roughly 44,540 students” have been impacted by these closures. How much of this, some ask, is a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic?

The lockdowns, in particular, were some of the first major decisions that took students out of the classroom and relocated them to the online learning environment. And this, some experts have pointed out, may have been the catalyst of the problem we’re seeing today. On Wednesday’s episode of “Washington Watch,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins highlighted the increased rate of colleges shutting down. FRC’s Senior Fellow for Education Studies Meg Kilgannon agreed with the notion the government’s response to COVID was “one of the tipping points” that led to this result.

She continued, “[T]he turn to online learning during the COVID shutdown has really been … hard for some colleges to make the transition back.” As she emphasized, “There is [already] a declining population of students,” which means “the demographics are changing.” And a major consequence of this is that there are now “more colleges than we need.” For many of them, the only option left was to close indefinitely. As it relates to the students, perhaps the biggest issue, Kilgannon added, is that many college programs are “very much dependent on being together in person.”

There are additional factors that contribute to the closures, like expenses. As Kilgannon explained, the current economic conditions are “just not sustainable.” And so, while increased online learning plays a role in the colleges shuttering, Kilgannon emphasized that changes such as “the reform of the federal student aid form,” which made the document “difficult to fill out,” only further motivates students to turn away from universities. Perkins also pointed out that online learning is ultimately “much cheaper for students.” All this is leading to “a major shifting of the educational landscape in America.” Kilgannon agreed, pointing out that “when we see these closures happening, it’s very sad. But it is just the state of play right now, unfortunately.”

However, as Perkins said, “there [are] lessons to be learned here,” especially as we analyze how the government responded to the pandemic. But “I just wonder,” he surmised, “how many years in the future are we still going to be discovering the effects of what happened during that three-year period?”

“It’s a good question,” Kilgannon responded. “It’s important for government to not overreach in times of crisis. We need support in times of crisis, but there were certainly policies that were put into place by government officials that were really draconian. And now we’re still feeling the effects of that overreach,” with no known end-date. Perkins nodded, saying that “for every action, there’s a reaction.”

He concluded that it seems likely, “when we look at the government’s response to COVID … I don’t know how many years down the road, we’re still going to be uncovering the consequences of those decisions.”