While data from schools that have announced their fall plans shows a majority plan to hold in-person courses, only 18 percent of instructors surveyed think courses will be entirely in-person, with 70 percent believing they will be doing all or some instruction online.
“There is still a lot uncertainty about what ‘back to school’ will look like, but one of the things we do know is America’s higher education system must be more prepared this fall to handle virtual learning than they were in March,” says Michael Hansen, CEO of Cengage. “Whether online or in-person, institutions should focus on making learning more flexible for the needs of their students and the needs of the times.”
Students are still in the dark in many cases, with 62 percent saying they don’t know their school’s fall plans.
Four-year students are 4-5 times more likely than two-year students to know what their school’s fall plans are. In fact, 55 percent of 4-year students know their school’s fall plans, compared to just 12 percent of 2-year students who know their school’s fall plans.
Looking only at schools that have announced fall plans, schools with high tuition are much less likely to have announced classes are online than low-tuition schools.
Of high-tuition schools (annual tuition greater than $10,000), 57.5 percent are planning for in-person classes; 19 percent are waiting to decide; 15 percent are considering a range of scenarios; 8 percent are proposing a hybrid model; and .5 percent are planning for online.
Of low-tuition schools, 58 percent are planning for in-person classes, 23.5 percent are planning for online classes; 7.5 percent are proposing a hybrid model; 7 percent are waiting to decide; and 4 percent are still considering a range of scenarios.
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