What’s the backup plan for recruitment in August?

[NYCMS]

Thanks too PersistentDST for your insights. Colleges were already challenged pre-Pandemic. Declining enrollment, rising tuition and many left wondering what a diploma is worth given the massive debt graduates are carrying well into their 30's. Great NYTimes article today about the future of college and the Pandemic challenges which is why many colleges are considering waiting until January. Needing to have only one student per dorm room (where do the rest go? Most college towns have only a certain number of apartments), spread-out seating in lecturers, older professors, etc. Harvard Medical School just announced that first year students will be taught virtually and that Univ. of California system is considering a mix of in-person and virtual. All those changes add extra costs to education which has to be passed along somewhere.

As for the need to "no longer socially distance" once the states open up? That's a recipe for disaster. Social distancing and masks are here to stay if you want to be part of the solution.

Other changes to our lives? Cost of living going up. That hair salon that used to seat 10 patrons now can only seat 5. They have to buy all the equipment, etc. to keep things safe. Your cut will cost more. Our "new normal" lives will be drastically different although I think some people, based on behavior seen in re-opening states, think it can go back to what it was or just with a few 'tweaks'.

I'm likely more cautious since I live in NYC, the epicenter of it all where we live on top of each other and rely on public transportation (which I don't know if I'll take for the rest of this year). College campuses are a microcosm of NYC...kids on top of each other, packed into dorms, sorority houses and in bars. I wouldn't be re-opening schools in person if it were up to me. As AZTheta said it so well, life as we have known it is undergoing a major sea change and shift.

Get ready for a challenging few years, at least until a vaccine that works is found and used widely (already reading about how some people say they'll refuse to take it...which will open a new can of worms.)