Over Half of Colleges On Pace for In-Person Classes

Colleges and universities across the country are set to reopen for fall semester at the end of August and into September. School officials had hoped the coronavirus would be under control by now, but it continues to sweep through the U.S. with over 60,000 new cases a day and 1,000 new deaths. Despite this, over half of all colleges and universities say they’re still planning to offer in-person classes in the fall.

In a survey of over 1,000 colleges across the U.S. by the Chronicle of Higher Education, 53 percent responded that they plan to offer at least some in-person classes for the beginning of the semester. That’s down considerably from the beginning of the month, where the same survey showed 63 percent of colleges were planning on offering in-person classes.

A mixture of online-only plans and a hybrid of in-person and online classes have been gaining traction in July, according to the survey. Online-only plans rose from 9 percent to 12 percent for the end of July, while hybrid plans nearly doubled from 18 percent to 32 percent. Just 3 percent of colleges surveyed said they were still waiting on making a decision.