"The mayor of Ithaca, N.Y., said the city could face dire consequences if its local colleges don’t reopen their campuses this fall due to the coronavirus, according to a report on Monday.
‘If the students don’t come back in the fall, we’re in real cataclysmic trouble,’ Mayor Svante Myrick said during an interview with CNBC.
Ithaca is home to Cornell University and Ithaca College, which together have more than 26,500 students that contribute to a massive portion of its economy. The city, meanwhile, has a population of about 31,000 people." …
https://www.foxnews.com/health/new-york-mayor-sees-real-cataclysmic-trouble-colleges-open-campuses-fall-report
I think many small college towns are in the same position.
So, I’ve heard Cornell has several plans for reopening. Someone told me that one of them being freshman and senior go to campus and sophomores and juniors stay home? What do you guys think will end up happening for such a large university?
Around 50% of Cornell students live off campus and many of them have rental leases already in place for next year, so I would expect they live in those rentals whether school is in person or online.
Likewise, students at many colleges who live off-campus are likely to go to those apartments/houses, as they won’t be able to get out of their leases.