RALEIGH (Sept. 2, 2020) – If the last three weeks tell us anything about higher education amid a pandemic, it’s that institutions must be nimble.
UNC Chapel Hill, NC State and East Carolina universities have shifted all courses online and asked most students to return home.
UNC Charlotte, which had delayed the start of classes until Sept. 7 because of the Republican National Convention, was able to move all classes online before students moved to campus. Campus officials hope to resume in-person classes in October.
“As soon as we come up with a plan, conditions change and we see that we have to pivot,” Jennifer Haygood, the UNC System’s Chief Financial Officer, told a legislative committee last week.
Haygood noted, for example, that students with COVID-19 symptoms tend to have more “close contacts” than the public at large, which in turn increases the university’s costs to trace those contacts.
Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said last week that the virus has cost UNC Chapel Hill alone more than $100 million so far, and campus officials expect to lose another $55 million this fall in housing and dining revenue.1 (Haygood noted that of $322 million in costs across the UNC System to contend with the virus in the spring, $293 million has been reimbursed.2)
SO AS LEGISLATORS RETURN TO SESSION in Raleigh today, the funding request from the 17-campus UNC System to deal with the pandemic bears repeating. Because of the shifting needs, officials asked for $100 million in flexible funds for four categories of need:
- Public health protocols such as testing, contact tracing and quarantine.
- Reopening costs including building updates to support social distancing, as well as improved ventilation.
- Ongoing cleaning and personal protective equipment.
- Student support and aid, including online tutoring and devices – some students even try to attend remote classes with a phone, Haygood said.
Similarly, the NC Community College System requested $76 million to:
- Improve student success in online courses with additional faculty and advisors;
- Strengthen the state’s economic recovery with equipment and instructors for short-term training; and
- Ensure student and employee safety with PPE, testing, reduced class sizes and plexiglas shields for instructors.
Legislative leaders scheduled the session that resumes today hoping Congress would have approved a second coronavirus relief package by now. That hasn’t happened.
But depending on what actions Congress does or doesn’t take, the state has $552 million to $903 million remaining from the federal CARES Act that it left unspent last spring.
House education leader Rep. John Fraley, R-Iredell, said legislators might allocate what is available this week and return again before the end of the year if Congress acts.
COVID-19 has inflicted treacherous, seemingly ever-shifting conditions on our public colleges and universities, just as UNC System President Peter Hans tries to settle into his new job.
As legislators return, they should pay heed to those institutions’ special needs during a pandemic.
1 https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/chancellor-pandemic-has-cost-unc-chapel-hill-more-than-100m/19259253/.
2 https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2020/08/help-to-deal-with-covid-19/.
Leave a Reply