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What's Happening in Higher Education?

What's Happening in Higher Education?

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What's Happening in Higher Education?

The immediate Lynchburg region is fortunate to be home to several excellent private and public institutions, including: the University of Lynchburg, Sweet Briar College, Randolph College, Liberty University and Central Virginia Community College.  
 
Within another 100 to 120 miles are the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, James Madison University, and several other high quality private colleges too; all of which attract thousands of area students each year. 
 
Because of these institutions’ tremendous impact on our economies, our workforce, our children, and students and their education, it is important to understand the impact the pandemic is having on them. This is especially relevant with announcements of Fall semester reopening plans and retooled educational delivery models.

We plan to monitor and report on the following topics on an ongoing basis due to their direct and significant impact on higher education: the state budget, any Congressional aid packages, student enrollment, athletics, any tuition & fee, room & board, meal plan cost and possible reductions, rebates, and waivers as a result of COVID-19, as well as colleges' impact on cities and localities. We will routinely update readers on key issues confronting Virginia’s public and private four-year institutions, as well as community colleges.  
 
Below is a brief summary of actions taken and links to what regional private and public institutions of higher education are doing with regard to reopening for the Fall 2020-2021 academic year. Recall, that in mid-March all Virginia colleges and universities converted to online learning models. 

 
Liberty University
 
Liberty University announced in early June it would commence the 2020 school year the last week of August.  Liberty did so with 15,000 students returning to campus and more than 90,000 choosing the online option.  
 
https://www.liberty.edu/coronavirus/


Randolph College 
 
On July 23, President Bradley Bateman announced Randolph College had decided to move its instruction online for the Fall semester. Virginia State and Hampton University have also decided to conduct the entire semester in an online manner. 
 
https://www.randolphcollege.edu/covid19/ 
 
 
Central Virginia Community College (CVCC)
 
As a non-residential community college, CVCC will offer its Fall classes in a variety of formats: in virtual, virtual real-time, and in-person delivery modes with most classes being online or having an online component. All Fall courses are being taught online with some exceptions for skills-based classes. 
 
https://centralvirginia.edu/COVID-19
 
 
Sweet Briar College 
 
Sweet Briar College announced in its mid-July campus reopening plan that it was going to have in-person learning for the Fall. 
 
https://sbc.edu/covid-19-information/
 

James Madison University
 
On September 1, JMU’s leadership, in an email to students and parents from President Jonathan Alger, announced that it was switching to primarily online learning with some hybrid instruction after reporting more than 500 total COVID-19. As of September 13, JMU had over 1,500 positive COVID-19 tests, far outpacing other Virginia colleges and universities.  
 
https://www.jmu.edu/stop-the-spread/index.shtml
 
 
University of Virginia 
 
Earlier this month, the University of Virginia (UVa) delayed the opening of undergraduate residence halls and the start of in-person undergraduate classes by two weeks. On August 28, President Jim Ryan announced it was going forward with the university’s plan to welcome students to residence halls beginning in early September and to begin in-person instruction for undergraduates on Tuesday, Sept. 8. 
 
https://returntogrounds.virginia.edu/
 
 
Virginia Tech
 
In mid-June, Virginia Tech President Timothy Sands announced the Fall semester would begin Aug. 24 and end Dec. 16. “In order to mitigate the risks associated with an anticipated late-fall resurgence of this disease, we plan to pivot to online instruction and exams after Thanksgiving break,” Sands said in his message.

https://ready.vt.edu/index.html
 
 
Please read these articles, for more information on the status of our regional colleges and universities:

 

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