They managed to survive wars, but virus too much to bear for colleges

It survived World War I, the flu pandemic of 1918 and World War II but the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been too great for it to withstand.

Concordia College in New York, founded in 1881, will close this autumn after its financial problems were exacerbated by the pandemic. It follows other venerable educational institutions that the pandemic has brought low.

Concordia, which has 1,500 students, transferred most of them to Iona College, a private Catholic college in New Rochelle, north of New York, to continue their education. Iona has also agreed to buy Concordia's campus in nearby Bronxville.

"This extremely difficult decision is the result of a deliberative, thoughtful and strategic process, informed by immutable business realities," Concordia said in a statement. "Set within the context of a changing and broadly challenged higher education sector, the college's financial shortfalls were further accelerated by the global pandemic."

The pandemic, along with lower student enrollments and less financial assistance from states for public schools, has also forced US colleges and universities to cut budgets, reduce staff and eliminate some programs.

Last year the American Council on Education and 100 colleges and universities wrote a letter urging Congress to pass a new coronavirus relief bill giving $120 billion to offset losses in higher education.

At least 100 programs at US universities had been suspended by October, according to an analysis by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Cuts have occurred at top-tier universities including Harvard, the University of South Florida, the University of California, Berkeley, Cornell in Ithaca, New York, and the University of Akron in Ohio, the American Council on Education said.

Tenure rules

The University of Akron cited the coronavirus and successfully invoked a clause in its collective bargaining agreement in September to supersede tenure rules and lay off 97 unionized faculty members.

Last September trustees at the University of Florida allowed faculty furloughs to help close a projected $49 million shortfall from the coronavirus. Steve Orlando, a university spokesman, said the next step, a formal furlough policy, is expected to go to the board this year.

Ithaca College in central New York said last year that it planned to cut 121 full-time faculty slots as a result of declining enrollment exacerbated by the pandemic. The school had already furloughed 167 nonfaculty staff members and offered early retirement to 30 faculty members to address an $8 million shortfall.

Coronavirus infections have run rampant on college campuses, with at least 397,000 cases and 90 deaths at more than 1,800 colleges by December, according to The New York Times.

Universities have had to offer students on campus a frequent COVID-19 testing program to keep them healthy. But the service has been another strain on their budgets.

The Ivy League school Cornell University estimates it spent $10 million last semester on its coronavirus test and trace program.

Urbana University in Ohio, founded in 1850, which managed to survive the American Civil War, could not battle its way through the pandemic and was forced to close last April.

"The global coronavirus pandemic has added a level of stress and uncertainty to Urbana's prospects that make it impossible to sustain," the school said.

belindarobinson@chinadailyusa.com