A new ‘old college try,’ or the end of an era?

 

Bill Knight column for 8-20, 21 or 22, 2020

 I’m not optimistic about colleges, which are coping with more than a pandemic. As campuses struggle to start fall terms, the old Rolling Stones lyric comes to mind: “This could be the last time, this could be the last time, maybe the last time, I don’t know. Oh, no…”

Either higher education is adapting to a New Normal, an indefinite approach of face coverings, social distancing and remote learning, or is at a Turning Point, a moment that could permanently change college.

College during a pandemic already has outbreaks, from the University of North Carolina and Missouri State to Texas A&M and Bradley University. In Illinois, Gov. Pritzker approved guidelines requiring masks, social distancing and monitoring student symptoms, and area colleges are complying. Some also offer remote learning, in-person classes ending before Thanksgiving, single dorm rooms of available, and mandated negative test results before attending classes or activities.

Testing in some places is for people showing symptoms or having had contact with cases, but health officials say that may be problematic since people may be infected and contagious without symptoms. A forthcoming study by Harvard and Yale researchers says outbreak control requires testing all students every two or three days, which the federal government isn’t funding.

Some colleges are asking students and staff to sign agreements that they realize the risks and will follow guidelines, uncomfortable documents people may tie to the American Council on Education’s request for protection from costs defending pandemic-related lawsuits. Some schools seem to be relying on students refraining from behaving like students have for generations; that’s doubtful and places the burden on them, not their institutions.

The American Federation of Teachers and its unit representing college workers, University Professionals of Illinois, last week filed an Unfair Labor Practice with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, alleging that Western Illinois and Eastern Illinois Universities didn’t bargain about reopening.

Bill Thompson, president of WIU’s UPI chapter, said, “The university has asked me to pledge to wear a mask, maintain social distancing, and clean frequently used surfaces, but in return they haven’t pledged to provide students and employees with safe places and ways to work, to test everyone adequately, and to provide a metric so that we can see whether WIU’s plan is working.”

Meanwhile:

* the American Council on Education projects enrollment nationwide to fall 15% (the number of Illinoisans going to school out of state is up 73% since 2000, according to the Chicago Tribune);

* revenues are falling; the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign reportedly lost $70 million in pandemic-related expenses, and colleges face less housing income (a survey by Real Estate Witch says just 9.3% of students plan to live on campus this fall);

* debts incurred to pay for college are becoming huge liabilities. Area schools’ tuitions range from $9,600 at Illinois Central College to $47,000 at Knox, with Black Hawk at $4,100 and WIU at $11,000. CBS’ Jill Schlesinger reports that new federal loans between July 1 and June 30, 2021, have interest rates of 2.75% (undergrads), 4.3% (graduate students) and 5.3% (“Grad PLUS” and “Parent PLUS” loans);

* more college teachers (maybe two-thirds, according to Indiana University/South Bend professor Benjamin Balthaser) are low-paid “adjuncts”; and

* administrations at some campuses are deemphasizing liberal-arts studies, thinking students want specific courses for narrow career goals.

 

“[Universities’] purpose is to turn students into thinking people and, more important, into critical citizens,” Balthaser said. “Higher education is by definition a social good, not something to be engaged solely for private gain.”

Whatever their academic philosophies, Illinois campuses are reopening. The two-year Black Hawk College in Moline and Galva opened Monday with remote learning for classes without labs, and expects 1,874 students – 47% of last fall. Galesburg’s private Knox College is letting students choose in-person or remote learning and single rooms if available. (Knox had about 1,200 students last year, but it’s unclear about this year’s enrollment since they gave students until Aug. 31 to decide for fall, which starts Sept. 14.). And WIU in Macomb and the Quad Cities, which this week is holding a “virtual assembly” to kick off the semester, is starting with reduced class sizes, staggered class times and both in-person and online classes. Its enrollment is forecast to be up from Spring, with more than 1,000 new freshmen and 700 new transfers.

However, college-as-commodity – the door through which grads supposedly enter the middle class – seems at risk or, increasingly, an illusion. Are students or parents still reassured they’ll get what they thought they were buying?

If my son were still in college, I’d recommend he take a “gap year,” but such a choice could go on for years. Oh, no: I’m not optimistic.