One of the most prominent topics in higher education discussions in recent years has been the financial pressures on students and institutions. Students face rising costs; institutions face budget problems of limited revenue and stagnant or declining public support. Certainly, these pressures are likely to continue through the pandemic and beyond. The two articles in this section describe these pressures and discuss possible responses.
Sandy Baum notes that the pandemic has increased pressure on an already strained financial aid system as costs have increased faster than most families’ incomes. She urges rejection of “silver bullet” solutions such as college for free and debt forgiveness as being both impractical and inequitable. Rather, “Significant improvements are possible without these seemingly dramatic changes.” These include streamlining and simplifying the processes for obtaining aid and repayment (including income-based repayment programs), improving coordination of federal and state responsibilities and increasing funding, and special attention to the needs of low income and minority students. These are all likely to be more effective and equitable in “strengthening the need-based student aid system and the quality of education offered to low-income and first-generation students.”
Bryan T. Prescott argues that the pandemic has demonstrated the need for much more sophisticated modeling tools to help colleges and universities forecast budget pressures and needs. He introduces the “COVID-19 Impact Model” being developed by the National Council for Higher Education Management Systems that allows officials and administrators to work within the “Cone of Uncertainty” (much like a hurricane forecasting) about shifts in all costs and revenues. “Such tools can help states and institutions plan more deliberately for changing conditions by assessing the likelihood of various possibilities and discarding outliers, identifying critical priorities, and managing risk.” “[T]hese tools may be particularly valuable for use at the current moment, they are also likely to be useful” beyond the pandemic.