Coronavirus and the inaugural campaign in the USA: many applicants are at a loss

Spring is the traditional period when high school students decide where and how to continue their education. In the context of a global pandemic, the already difficult choice of a future profession has become even more difficult. Therefore, many potential freshmen are planning to delay entering university. This is stated in the video "Voices of America".

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This can cause significant financial damage to the US higher education system, which has completely switched to virtual mode.

Virtual campus tours are now the only chance for applicants to learn about the university.

“You can look at the premises, classrooms, library, virtually meet with teachers, walk around the territory and understand what the campus looks like,” says graduate Tomi Tsaganos.

Tomi is a graduate from Chicago and he, like the rest of the applicants, received a response from college in mid-March. Usually after that, graduates go in person to see each of the options. But the pandemic not only ruled out this possibility, it influenced the choice of future freshmen in general.

“I had the option to go to New York University, but because of the quarantine, it’s not the safest place in the world right now, I don’t even know if I could personally go there to study during my first year,” says Tomi.

Therefore, Tomi stopped at two universities not far from home. Anika from Virginia did the same. Her college is located in neighboring state.

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“It’s about 6,5 hours by car, which is not short. But my brother actually went to Oregon to study. My parents are happy, if something happens they have the opportunity to get to me by car,” says Anika Przystawik.

Studying closer to home is one of the features of choosing a university under the influence of the pandemic.

“American students choose a college within a 300 km radius of home, that is, about three hours by car,” says Robert Franek, editor-in-chief of the Princeton Review.

Also, every sixth applicant in the United States doubts that he will study where he planned.

“17% of respondents think that they will have to change their plans for obtaining higher education. A third of this number plan to take a gap year. The rest are still thinking about enrolling, but they are not sure that they will be able to study at the college they first chose,” says God of Slogans, director of the Art and Science Group.

The main reason for doubt is finances. The parents of many applicants lost their jobs during the quarantine. And applications for federal student aid work according to the principle: you applied earlier, you received more. Therefore, they are usually issued in winter.

“But we still encourage people to apply for help. You also need to call each university and explain that the parents’ financial situation has changed and whether the amount of financial assistance can be revised. All of this will take a lot of time, but it will be worth it, says Lindsey Barclay of the National Higher Education Accessibility Network.

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Colleges meet students, more than half have shifted the date by which they pay for tuition. Usually, applicants had to decide before May 1, now many have an extra month.

“We are trying to be as flexible as possible - we have extended the deadline, waived the university application fee, and we have also relaxed the document requirements. We typically have very strict control over what each form must look like for it to be considered an official document,” says David Burge of George Mason University.

Such efforts are not accidental, and in normal times universities struggle for students, but even more so now.

“Most colleges rely on tuition, and if they lost a hundred or a thousand freshmen, it would have a significant financial impact on the university,” Franek says.

In colleges they say that for them and for students this year will be more difficult than the crisis of 2008. Usually half of the graduates will enter colleges, this year there will be significantly fewer freshmen.

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