When colleges and universities had to send their students home last March as the reality of the pandemic began to sweep the nation, it added financial considerations that universities nationwide had not prepared for.
“It’s inserted a great deal of uncertainty,” Mercer’s Executive Vice President for Administration and Finance James Netherton said. “What kind of money are we going to have to spend coping with COVID that we didn’t budget for? … The list just goes on and on and on and on and on.”
When Mercer had to send students home, the university had to provide students compensation for unused food and housing, Netherton said. On top of that, the university spent a considerable amount of money preparing to reopen for the 2020-2021 school year in as safe a manner as possible.