Promising? Maybe?

[iupgroundhog]

I have begun to believe that some of these people are either going to start disregarding Wolf's edicts completely, or the pressure they apply will lead to the state government to opening things up before it's safe.

Interesting prediction.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Here's a mind bomb ... what if the West is cleared but the East isn't? That scenario is absolutely (somewhat) possible.


I don't think IUP's first home football game is until March so there's still time.

[jrshooter]

Interesting prediction.

You got me there. Hat is off. :)

[Bart]

I guess it's better to give everybody time to plan in advance.

Most likely, this will happen to the PASSHE and the system will be headed for a state of collapse in the next year. Will it be saved?

P. S. This is not a joke.

There are predictions 345 universities are at risk of closing or merging over the next few years.

[Fightingscot82]

There are predictions 345 universities are at risk of closing or merging over the next few years.

Source? I follow a lot of higher ed "thinkers" and haven't seen anything resembling that number. Or any predicted number for that matter.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Source? I follow a lot of higher ed "thinkers" and haven't seen anything resembling that number. Or any predicted number for that matter.

"Higher Ed Thinkers" ... are likely the whole problem.

[ctrabs74]

Source? I follow a lot of higher ed "thinkers" and haven't seen anything resembling that number. Or any predicted number for that matter.

I think Bart was being sarcastic.

[ctrabs74]

FWIW, with the Cal State campuses going fully online this fall, you can bet the University of California campuses (including Cal-Berkeley and UCLA) will probably follow suit. You lose on campus classes at Cal-Berkeley and UCLA, you can kiss any chances of college football at any level this fall goodbye. If we're lucky, football moves to the spring semester, but I don't think the NCAA would be too thrilled about March football in frigid environments (read: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania) to start the season.

Hate to say it, but it looks like college football won't be back until Fall 2021, given the circumstances in California.

[iupgroundhog]

Source? I follow a lot of higher ed "thinkers" and haven't seen anything resembling that number. Or any predicted number for that matter.

Boston Globe

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/...nancial-peril/

[Bart]

Source? I follow a lot of higher ed "thinkers" and haven't seen anything resembling that number. Or any predicted number for that matter.

https://www.nbcboston.com/investigat...-good/2118330/

It was also broadcasted on this evenings NBC news by Lester Holt.

[Fightingscot82]

Okay I'm aware of that prediction. It's technically unrelated to the pandemic but tied to demographic declines. Colleges do close all the time but the common characteristics are regularly very small (under 2,000 students), small endowment (under $50M), and very poor cash flow. Room and board fees are treated like tuition and fund general operations. Poor facilities because they're out of cash. Usually you've never heard of them because they're rural or a tiny school in a big city.

There used to be a college in Cambridge Springs, PA but they closed in the 80s. Declining enrollment, no endowment, and ran out of cash. It's now a state prison for women.

[IUPMonk]

... If we're lucky, football moves to the spring semester...

My brother-in-law whose son is at Pitt mentioned that there is talk that the fall 2020 football season may be pushed back to Spring of 2021.. Just full disclosure, my B-IL is the kind of guy that often hears 25% of what's said and makes up the other 75%. However, I don't think it's far fetched given it's believed by the medical community that a vaccine could be ready in the spring 2021.

[SW_Mustang]

There are predictions 345 universities are at risk of closing or merging over the next few years.

344 to go...

https://patch.com/massachusetts/broo...-manor-college

[SW_Mustang]

Okay I'm aware of that prediction. It's technically unrelated to the pandemic but tied to demographic declines. Colleges do close all the time but the common characteristics are regularly very small (under 2,000 students), small endowment (under $50M), and very poor cash flow. Room and board fees are treated like tuition and fund general operations. Poor facilities because they're out of cash. Usually you've never heard of them because they're rural or a tiny school in a big city.

There used to be a college in Cambridge Springs, PA but they closed in the 80s. Declining enrollment, no endowment, and ran out of cash. It's now a state prison for women.

The basis for the predictions is the rate at which colleges have been closing in recent years. Colleges have always closed, but various factors have increased that rate over the recent years. The pandemic only serves as a catalyst to speed up the process.

The cost has exploded exponentially since the 1970's, and with wages stagnating - a college degree has effectively nullified whatever ROI it once had in most cases. Fewer students are going to college or universities, so there's less of a pool to draw from. Public funding has decreased in many cases as well. Grade inflation hasn't helped either. Most private liberal arts colleges charge really high fees for the same instruction that can be had elsewhere, which is what is doing them in.

I've always maintained it will hit New England the hardest. It will start with the small private schools and work it's way into the small public schools, then it will slowly spread across the United States. With the recent news out of Vermont, it looks like my prediction may be accurate - albeit it's just a guess.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The basis for the predictions is the rate at which colleges have been closing in recent years. Colleges have always closed, but various factors have increased that rate over the recent years. The pandemic only serves as a catalyst to speed up the process.

The cost has exploded exponentially since the 1970's, and with wages stagnating - a college degree has effectively nullified whatever ROI it once had in most cases. Fewer students are going to college or universities, so there's less of a pool to draw from. Public funding has decreased in many cases as well. Grade inflation hasn't helped either. Most private liberal arts colleges charge really high fees for the same instruction that can be had elsewhere, which is what is doing them in.

I've always maintained it will hit New England the hardest. It will start with the small private schools and work it's way into the small public schools, then it will slowly spread across the United States. With the recent news out of Vermont, it looks like my prediction may be accurate - albeit it's just a guess.

Today's students are also the children of the 'boom era' of when everybody went to college -- and so many got useless degrees ... the 'diploma factory era', per se. It seems parents as a whole aren't pushing college as hard today -- perhaps because their essentially worthless degree got them nothing but debt. Two of my wealthiest friends didn't go to college. There are a lot of other choices today (pre-COVID-19, anyway). In its simplest form ... supply and demand.

Obviously certain professions are still going to require degrees (or, multiple degrees). But the slew of run-of-the-mill kids who'd major in the communications or the such ... they are looking at different avenues. Probably correctly, too.