Wells College is a small, private, liberal arts school. It is just the type of school which was at risk before the pandemic. Now it is being pushed to the brink.
The Ithaca Journal reports:
Wells College in Aurora warns it may close if students can’t return in fall 2020The COVID-19 pandemic has brought Wells College’s financial issues to the point where its fall semester may be in jeopardy.College President Jonathan Gibralter this week sent a letter to the college community warning that if students cannot return to campus this fall, the historic college in Aurora would have to shut down.Every academic institution in the state, under orders from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is continuing distance learning for the rest of the academic year but decisions about fall classes have not been made.”If New York State continues its mandate that our campus remain closed through all or part of the fall semester, Wells simply will not receive enough revenue to continue operations,” Gibralter said in the letter. “A substantial amount of the College’s operating budget comes from room and board revenue, so without enough students participating in our residential life, the College cannot afford to reopen.”Gibralter said in an interview with the Auburn Citizen on Thursday that he felt people should be informed of what the college is facing.”It was important to me to that people understand that this is a very serious situation and that I really feel that people need to honestly know that we have a plan to reopen, but we just don’t know what the state’s going to tell us and when,” Gibralter said.
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