Pennsylvania’s Largest Universities Close to Losing $800 Million Because of COVID

Pennsylvania’s Largest Universities Close to Losing $800 Million Because of COVID

Similar things are unfolding in other states. The pandemic has hit higher education hard.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

COVID-19 hit to Pennsylvania’s largest universities nears $800 million

The University of Pennsylvania expects to lose $77 million by the end of the school year in June. Penn, which earned $1.9 billion on investments in just the final three months of 2020, is wealthy enough to take that hit without much difficulty.

“Pressure remains, but we are well positioned,” MaryFrances McCourt, Penn’s vice president of finance, told the university board’s budget and finance committee on Thursday. The loss is for Penn as an academic institution with $4.5 billion in revenue last year and does not include its gigantic health system.

But the shortfall, paced by a $79 million reduction in tuition and fee revenue through December, shows that even the richest schools have taken significant financial hits from COVID-19, as students at many schools had to stay home for the fall semester and others delayed starting college.

Fitch Ratings, a credit ratings agency, said Tuesday that freshman enrollment nationally was down 16% last fall, compared to the year before. But it is expected to rebound quickly because most potential students are expected to take only short breaks. Enrollment of foreign students is forecast to take longer to recover.

The number of first-time undergraduates at Penn last fall fell 3%, to about 2,300 from 2,400 the year before. Overall, Penn’s undergrad enrollment was down 5%, to about 10,400, according to a disclosure to municipal bond investors. Penn did not say how many students had pushed back their enrollment date.

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