When the novel coronavirus emerged in the United States early this year, colleges had to act quickly: They closed dorms, canceled sports seasons, and implemented online courses wherever possible.
These steps were imperative in the short term, but when it became clear that efforts to contain the pandemic would be a marathon, not a sprint, colleges had to reassess what a longer-term solution to maintaining enrollment numbers in the midst of a pandemic could look like.
And the question of how to tackle this issue underscores the institutions' competing concerns--for one, balancing their need for income from tuition with students and their families' reservations about paying full price for online or hybrid instruction.