The COVID-19 pandemic, and the campus closures that have ensued, could pose significant enrollment and financial challenges to colleges and universities, says Fitch Ratings, a credit rating agency.
According to its report released March 12, campus closures sustained for more than a few weeks may strain operating costs and revenue, especially as “auxiliary services have grown in relative importance,” states the report. 
“Each campus is having to weigh the safety of their students, their faculty and their community against the financial pressures that may result if they do need to close,” said Emily Wadhwani, a director at Fitch Ratings who specializes in higher education finance, to Diverse. “Certainly, each campus is experiencing this slightly different.”
Currently, schools are not required to provide refunds for auxiliary services, especially since they’re typically paid for upfront. However, Wadhwani said some schools may opt to do so on a prorated basis. For instance, WPRI reported that Brown University recently announced that it would offer credit or a refund for any unused room and board charges after March 22, which is the date it has asked its students to leave campus by.
“It isn’t clear to us that in every case, refunds will be offered or demanded by students,” said Wadhwani. “It depends on the type of student base that you have and the scholarships that you’ve offered … I think we’re going to see a bit of a mixed bag.”
Additionally, as athletics departments lose ticket sales due to canceled games, sports-related revenue, too, will significantly decrease. Fortunately, “most universities do not depend heavily on revenue from sporting events,” states the report.
Instead, the largest blow universities may endure will be shrinking enrollment, especially where international students are concerned. For though they only comprise 5.5% of all U.S. enrollment, the report notes that international students disproportionately contribute more in tuition revenue given they typically pay full tuition rates. At the University of Washington, for instance, international students pay roughly three times as much as in-state students, according to a New York Times report.
