The coronavirus pandemic has devastated some college towns, which rely on graduations, game days and a regular stream of students for revenue.
This year’s canceled commencement ceremonies alone cost the town about $3 million in revenue, Amherst’s chamber of commerce estimates. Even if the area’s postsecondary institutions reopen for face-to-face classes but limit students’ off-campus activities, “that will create big challenges for our local retailers,” Town Manager Paul Bockelman said.
In Ames, Iowa, students at Iowa State University account for about half the city’s 67,000 population. The number of daily bus riders has plummeted to about 1,000 per day from a pre-pandemic average of 33,000, and officials are predicting a citywide budget shortfall of more than $9 million.
“A lot of our economy is based on students being here,” said Oestrike, who is also an assistant professor of instruction in the English Language Improvement Program at his alma mater. While University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel has said he’s “cautiously optimistic” students will return in the fall “with as much in-person instruction as possible,” the university’s athletics director, Warde Manuel, said it’sHow the last recession affected higher education. Will history repeat?
The uncertainty of the pandemic’s timeline is further complicating matters. It’s too soon to tell how bad it’s going to be anywhere, including college towns, said Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingerman’s, an Ann Arbor institution that began with a deli in 1982.
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