Covid, Colleges, and Classes

At the start of the 2020 school year, some colleges chose to reopen in
person while others offered primarily online classes. We find that
colleges responded to financial and other incentives largely as one might
expect. Larger shares of revenue attributed to in-person activities, such
as dorms and dining halls, led schools to reopen in person. In general,
the share of revenue due to tuition and fees had little association with
reopening in-person, which is consistent with the idea that the effect of
the mode of reopening on enrollment was ambiguous. However, private
schools experiencing financial distress due to tuition and fees were more
likely to reopen in-person while public schools were less likely. Public
colleges were influenced by political pressures and the fraction of
students from out of state, while private schools responded to the
severity of COVID in their local community.