Financial impacts on Michigan’s public universities from the coronavirus outbreak are widespread.
Many of Michigan’s public universities were already seeing declining enrollment before the pandemic hit. Now they’re issuing refunds for housing and dining and worry they could see both state and federal funding reductions.
Dan Hurley with the Michigan Association of State Universities said now the financial outlook for universities is “dire.”
“I definitely think this pandemic and the recession that it is inducing is going to lead to a hastended approach to program review and elimination.”
But, Hurley said it is unlikely any of the state’s public universities will have to close their doors.
“I could actually never see that. One thing that brings me warmth at the moment is seeing many aspects of our Michigan public universities really deliver on their missions right now.”
Hurley said universities are in conversations right now to figure out how to keep students safe during the fall semester.
Ultimately, he said, there is still a lot of uncertainty.