Thur night, I'll host last in series of virtual office hours on #admissions #COVIDー19. Sign up here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NUXHIhIbSpmhHyVsI5-KCQ

What follows is short thread about what we learned from first three, which attracted thousands of parents, students, counselors, and admissions officers

2/By far, the most asked question was whether colleges will be back face-to-face in the fall and WHEN will students know that. There's a huge reluctance, especially for incoming students, to commit to a college not knowing if they'll actually be on campus.

3/If colleges aren’t back in the fall, based on these virtual discussions, I’d expect a surge in deferral requests. Colleges seem skeptical that will happen, especially at selective schools. What will these 18-year-olds do for a year, they ask?

4/Based on chatter in Q&A during the office hours, they will 1.) attend local c.c. 2.) colleges w/extensive online experience, ASU, UCF, SHNU 3.) take one-off online classes for credit 4.) Some work, if they can get it.

5/If colleges offer online in fall like they did this spring, also clear families don’t want to pay full tuition price. Not clear what price they will pay, but loud and clear in the Q&A, they want a break on the tuition price.

6/The issue for colleges is that there’s no playbook on pricing this crisis. The leaders in online ed often charge same or more, but w/courses built over time by faculty and instructional designers, not ones like this built on the fly. What are they worth?

7/ So if colleges charge less this fall, the question is how much less? They still have campus overhead, faculty to pay, etc. We might finally get a sense of how much the “campus experience” is really worth.

8/Among other top ?’s in office hours: the financial health of colleges. People want to know after this crisis will their colleges be there for long run? Lots of people pointing to Forbes piece on this. Wish we could come to some consensus on how to judge financial health.

9/Finally, financial need is going to be MUCH bigger than most colleges realize right now. Lots of questions on appeals, applying for aid this summer. Gapping is going to increase. Will there be fewer need-blind colleges that meet full need? Probably yes. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/education/learning/financial-aid-gap-college.html