As fall approaches, colleges and universities face many of the same planning issues as school districts, especially those with heavily residential models, where students live in packed dorm buildings, attend large lectures and eat in crowded dining halls. Even so, 56% of colleges are currently planning for in-person instruction, despite the coronavirus in the United States being at its highest rate of spread ever. This raises the risk of shutting down and evicting students in residence should there be an outbreak on campus. And, even for those schools planning to be in-person, it also raises the possibility that many in-person activities, such as extracurriculars and office hours, will likely move online as well. 

In other words, as public health guidance demands that many in-person activities continue to be restricted, colleges are left to make difficult choices. Those choices will not only have serious health implications for all involved—including teachers and support staff—but also will determine what students are getting for the tens of thousands of dollars they will spend on tuition this year. And, as the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare, the impact of each of these issues is likely to be borne most by our most vulnerable college students. 

Online Education with In-Person Prices 

Before the pandemic, the price of a post-secondary education differed dramatically based on whether it was in-person or online. For example, the price of an in-person calculus class was, on average, more than six times more expensive than the same class online. The additional support and social atmosphere of college may have previously convinced students that in-person college was a good value for the money, but now those same factors are restricted by public health guidance. Some colleges are responding to this dynamic with 10-15% tuition decreases, while others are keeping tuition the same or even raising it in an attempt to recuperate financial losses from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. However, even a 15% tuition decrease does not lower the cost of attendance at these schools to anything close to what purely online colleges offer.  

Colleges also face financial challenges from COVID-19’s impact on international students, who pay more than domestic students on average, and thus play larger role in universities’ operating finances. In addition, inviting new international students to the US is almost impossible as US offices abroad are closed for regular interviews. Even for those students who manage to overcome the legal hurdles to studying in the US, travel to this country— which has a high number of COVID-19 cases—is restricted in many places. All these factors mean that prospective international students face extraordinary barriers to studying in the US, which may lead to a reduction in their numbers. For domestic students, this would not only leave their colleges operating on smaller budgets, but would also leave them with fewer opportunities to interact with students from different cultures.  

Adding to all of this, emergency funding from the CARES Act is much less than colleges would need to cover pre-existing operating costs if they were to cut tuition. For example, the legislation’s funding formula was estimated to provide the University of Alaska Anchorage with $5.5 million in aid. But that funding represents half of one percent (0.5%) of the university’s financial year 2019 operating budget, which was $918.4 million. This means that, even if colleges would like to lower tuition to align with all-online colleges, many institutions are simply unable to do so. Without dramatic federal assistance, colleges will have to charge astronomical prices for an online education in order to cover overhead costs. These policies stand to heavily impact those for whom attending college was already a difficult decision. 

Expensive, Online Education is Likely to Impact Already Marginalized Students More 

For many low-income students and students of color, the uncertainties of the pandemic and the potentially larger expenses of attending college this upcoming school year may make attending a harder choice and may also push those already unsure towards not going at all. For some students, the higher health risks and cost for a lesser college experience may encourage a gap year, community college instead of a four-year university, or skipping out on higher education altogether, at least until COVID-19 is under control. For others, the health and economic ripple effects of the pandemic might make them less willing to attend college with a lower value for money, or to attend school away from home. 

For example, given that Black and Hispanic communities are suffering higher unemployment rates than their White counterparts, having parents and/or other family members suddenly out of work might affect the choices students from these communities are able to make in the fall. In addition, given that the health risks of the pandemic also fall disproportionately on Black, Hispanic or Latinx and Native American people, regardless of age, would-be college students from these communities may decide to stay close to home in case of serious illness in their families.  

Unfortunately, the additional circumstances low-income students and students of color will have to consider this fall come on top of a range of other challenges these students have long faced. Among those are realities that many of these students were already least likely to earn a college degree even before the pandemic and were also already less likely than their high-income peers to attend a college that was an academic match. Additionally, among public two- and four-year colleges, those with higher concentrations of students of color had less money per student. 

Even more alarming, while statistics demonstrate the challenges marginalized students already had to contend with even after deciding to attend college, they are likely to be made worse by inequitable access to the internet and technologies that facilitate remote learning. For example, according to a Pew Research study, as of February 2019, only 79% of White households had broadband internet access at home, which is already far less than ideal in the world of social distancing. However, among Black households, that number is 66%, and among Hispanic households 61%. The numbers for owning a computer at home are even worse – only 58% of Black households and 57% of Hispanic households reported having a computer at home. Additionally, there might be competition for computer and internet access in the household from parents working from home or other students in the household learning from home. All these factors mean that for many Black and Hispanic students, attending college from home may not be a physical possibility.  

Congress Must Act to Support and Protect Low-Income Students and Students of Color 

Ultimately, while restrictions on colleges can negatively impact every student, these burdens stand to particularly affect low-income students and students of color who already face additional challenges when earning a degree. During the last recession, college enrollment increased for all racial groups, as many people chose to pursue a degree while job prospects were slim. However, with the reduced “college experience”, reduced support for first-generation college students, increased health risks and increased importance of at-home internet access, this economic crisis could unfold differently.  

Congress has made a series of choices this year to prevent the economy from falling off a cliff. Assuring that low-income students and students of color do not go through additional hardships unnecessarily would be a valid addition to that list. Congress can and should support these students further in the next COVID-19 fiscal policy legislation by, for example, expanding the pool of resources available under the CARES Act’s Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, which was intended to provide students with emergency financial assistance. Moreover, Congress should also expand eligibility to include undocumented students and others left out by the Department of Education. Beyond this, colleges with means should financially support their students and find innovative ways to make certain vulnerable students have access to and fully take advantage of their college experience—especially if a vast part of it will be online-only. 

As colleges struggle to bear the financial burden of a shutdown and students grapple with the increased risks of attendance, the future remains bleak for higher education during and after the pandemic. Keeping colleges functioning and low-income students attending will require massive investment in students by Congress and those institutions that are able. Many institutions already operating on tight budgets will need substantial financial help now and in the coming years to keep marginalized students enrolled. Education is widely regarded as a path to economic mobility, and without additional support, those who would most benefit from education stand to be excluded for years to come.