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Colleges debate whether to open classes in the fall

California State University announced on Tuesday that it would be cancelling in-person classes on all of its 23 campuses for the fall semester as worries about coronavirus continue to impact everyone’s lifestyles. Roy Matthew, National Practice Leader in Higher Education at Deloitte, joins The Final Round to discuss the future of higher education.

Video Transcript

- This is big news, because I think that when we first were getting into this pandemic, the colleges canceling their spring semesters were a big deal. Is California making this move just the tip of the iceberg? Or do you think they'll be alone in their decision?

ROY MATTHEW: Jen, that's a great point. Thanks for having me today. I think when you think about where colleges are going over the next couple of weeks and months, it's really important to look at what the last eight weeks have looked like for universities. And the first point being that over a period of a couple of days, you had to shift hundreds of thousands of classes from a classroom delivery into in online mode. And that wasn't easy. And so that happened overnight. And so, you know, that-- that could be considered a Band-Aid. And so we kind of got through the spring semester.

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But when you think about what comes next, it's really important to think about the different factors that have to be considered when you think about reopening and what the future could look like. And there are two-- two key constituents that you've got to think about. One is the students and the other one is the university.

From a university perspective, you have a couple of choices. Some schools have come out and said, regardless of what the next couple of weeks look like, we are going to deliver our experience online. Others have come out the other end of the spectrum and said, assuming there are no surprises over the next couple of weeks or months, we do plan to have students back on campus in the fall. And they have to take all the necessary precautions from a health perspective and compliance and legal perspective to enable that.

And then the majority of the institutions across the country fall in the middle, basically saying, we don't know what the next couple of weeks could look like. We're in a wait and see mode. And we're going to make decisions as this situation evolves. And we're going to remain agile. So that's-- that's where everybody stands right now. I wish everyone had a crystal ball to say, here's what we think fall could look like, but the reality of the situation is nobody knows what that's going to look like.

This is-- there is no playbook for this. The entire higher education industry has been turned upside down. This type of disruption has never been seen before in this industry. If you look at other industries like banking, like retail. There has been major disruptions. We've gone from, you know, going to a bank to doing banking online. Or retail, we've gone from going to a department store to shopping online.

But when you think about higher education, this method of classroom instruction has been in place for centuries. And so this is the kind of major disruption that's happening in the industry right now. And while there is a lot of pain going on, there are some tremendous innovations and opportunities that are coming out of this disruption.

- I mean, Roy, there's so many questions. And I'm kind of in the middle of this a little bit myself. And, you know, for instance, do you charge full tuition? Is it a binary choice between simply staying at home and full on campus? Or is there something in the middle? Yes, do you set yourself up for the such a possibility where you have to change in October with your plan? So many questions here. What are the most important things for a college or university to consider here?

ROY MATTHEW: Yeah. No, that's a great point, Andy. And I think the three big traits or characteristics that universities and students have to think about right now-- number one, leadership. There has to be leadership from a university perspective to say we are committed to doing the right thing, regardless of what the answer is. The second one is communications. It is really important for universities and students to keep that line of communication open, because they're both dealing with unknowns right now. And the more frequently that they can keep each other updated to help both parties along, you need-- you can't have one without the other.

And the third and probably the most important one is agility. Coming back to the point of we have to be flexible, and things could change overnight. So for example, for those universities that are planning a return to campus in the fall or some type of hybrid delivery of on campus as well as remote, if for some reason, there is an outbreak on campus in October and students are on campus, you have to be agile enough to detect that, do contact tracing, notify the appropriate students, and take necessary action. And all that has to happen over a couple of minutes or hours. And so I think those three key traits of leadership, open communication and being transparent, and having the agility is really what's needed at this point in time.

- Roy, you know, we've talked a lot about how this pandemic has exposed the haves and have nots. And I'm wondering if we're starting to see that with universities, as well. We were speaking with the president of Arizona State University last week who said, you know, we're going to open regardless, because we have the capacity. Whether it is all online or half and half, we know we can handle it. Not all universities are that way.

So I'm wondering what this means, you know, two years down the line, three years down the line. Are students going to start to make the decisions of where they go based on just how digital these operations are or how flexible these universities are?

- No, it's a great-- it's a great question. And the key thing to realize, once again, there are two sides to this equation. Universities can deliver courses and teaching and the research experience online for the most part, obviously, with some exceptions.

However, when you look at the last eight weeks, when Deloitte did a survey of a student population and said, what has your experience been like, less than 15% of students had a positive experience from that online learning experience. So that means 80 plus percent of students rated it as neutral or negative in terms of that experience, because basically, it's just a video with, you know, the experience, the classroom experience, being delivered online. But a lot of students are saying, that's not what I signed up for, that's not what I paid for.

And so I think on both sides of that equation for universities, they have to figure out how do you deliver an enhanced experience that truly delivers the outcome in a way that keeps students interested and can move the needle? From a university perspective, they have to look at the entire cost structure and say, we were designed for a different operating model, and now going forward, not just for the fall, but for the coming years or decades, if we have to live with a hybrid model of classroom and online, what does our cost structure look like?

And so that's the question that both sides are dealing with. And every university in the country right now is going through an unbelievable amount of scenario planning to say, if we had to shift to this model, what does that look like and where do we need to pivot? And there are some painful decisions, but once again, there are some great opportunities and innovations that are coming out of these discussions.

- Lots of discussions to be had. We're so glad you could talk with us today. Roy Matthew of Deloitte Consulting. Hopefully, we can continue it again, because this story is not going away as we are just heading into school being out and summer in session. So a lot more to come on the fall. Thanks again for your time.

ROY MATTHEW: Thank you for having me.