Financial Challenges Financial Challenges

The cash cost of COVID-19: A look into OU’s finances during the pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt daily life across the United States, higher education institutions have been among the most scrutinized and affected bodies nationwide.

Among U.S. colleges, 44 percent are primarily or fully online, with 10 percent of all universities deciding to go entirely virtual to protect the health of their students, faculty and staff. These decisions, however, have significant effects on university finances.

At the OU Board of Regents’ Oct. 2 meeting, OU President Joseph Harroz highlighted the economic impact the pandemic has had on the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which is projecting a $168.6 million loss in its operating budget after moving online for the fall semester.

Prior to the start of the fall semester, OU projections looked similarly grim should classes be held online only, according to Kesha Keith, OU director of media relations.

“In early August, the university considered the financial impact to the Norman campus should classes be moved fully online prior to the start of the semester,” Keith wrote in an Aug. 27 email. “At that point in time, the projections showed the university would suffer losses well in excess of $150 million. The factors related to the projected shortfall include, but are not limited to, not having a full football season, a possible 20 percent decrease in enrollment and a lack of housing, meal plans and parking revenues.”

At the Oct. 2 meeting, Harroz said since OU’s dorms are at 86 percent capacity and the campus is still open, the university has avoided the loss of millions and there are no plans for campus-wide furloughs or any departmental layoffs “that he knows of.”

Harroz also said the university’s non-athletic revenue is meeting approximate projections, though some departments may see funding reductions of roughly 2 percent. The OU Athletics Department budgeted for “at least” a $25 million shortfall in the fall semester, though no football games have thus far been canceled.

While Harroz said OU has managed to avoid such drastic losses — and continues to seek ways to reduce costs through university health care changes and other means — data from OU Parking Services and OU Housing and Food shows that substantial revenue has still been lost this semester as students and faculty alike are less inclined to spend time on campus.

TRANSPORTATION TROUBLES D ata provided by OU Parking Services Director Kris Glenn and Gary Epperson, a manager in the department, indicates that university revenue from parking passes saw a sharp decline in the fall 2020 semester.

From July 15, 2019, to Oct. 5, 2019, OU students, faculty and staff purchased 14,640 parking passes. 6

During the same time span in 2020, that number fell off to 10,875 passes.

Commuter passes saw the most steep dropoff among all categories. Up to Oct. 5, 2019, 6,470 commuter parking passes were purchased. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and into the fall 2020 semester, however, only 4,081 commuter passes had been purchased by the same date.

As each commuter pass costs $274 — and the price of parking passes has not changed for three consecutive years, according to Glenn — the difference in commuter parking alone has led to a shortfall of approximately $654,586 compared to fall 2019. The price of parking passes falls throughout the semester, however, so only approximate estimates of losses are available with current data.

Many OU faculty and staff have also forgone their parking permits for the 2020-21 academic year. By Oct. 5, 2019, 4,382 faculty or staff had purchased their parking permits. But by the same date this year, only 3,555 had done so.

According to the OU Parking Services website, each faculty/staff permit costs $311, meaning the drop-off in faculty/staff permit purchases translates to a loss of approximately $257,197 compared to fall 2019.

The only category of parking passes that saw an increase in sales for fall 2020 was the Headington Hall pass, which increased from 246 purchases in fall 2019 to 266 in fall 2020.

The combined revenue loss for only commuter and faculty/staff parking permits is $911,783. When accounting for all types of parking passes, OU Parking Services has lost roughly $1,062,209 from parking pass sales amid the pandemic.

Campus shuttles have also seen a sharp decline in ridership as well, according to Glenn’s data, with the first week of the fall 2020 semester seeing a 61 percent decrease in the number of riders. In the previous fall semester, the average daily number of riders for the first week of classes was 5,172. This year, the daily average was only 2,038.

This decreased ridership comes despite the university expanding CART shuttle routes and increasing the number of buses to facilitate social distancing prior to the beginning of the semester.

MISSING MEALS A nother major aspect of welcoming students to campus is the money many university housing residents spend on on-campus meal plans. According to data provided by Amy Buchanan, director of marketing and communications for OU Housing and Food Services, several meal plan types saw substantial purchase decreases, but some freshman plans were purchased more this semester.

During the fall 2019 semester, OU students purchased 6,571 meal plans. As of Oct. 5, 2020, however, only 4,766 meal plans of any type have been purchased.

Part of the change is reflected in an overall

BY BLAKE DOUGLAS

enrollment decrease at OU’s Norman campus from fall 2019 to fall 2020, according to OU Institutional Research and Reporting’s fall 2020 enrollment summary. Enrollment on the campus fell 1.1 percent from 28,089 in fall 2019 to 27,782 in fall 2020.

Some parents have expressed concern about allowing their students to live on campus amid the pandemic, leading even those who are still enrolled to seek housing elsewhere.

A decline in freshman meal plans — which make up a majority of all plans purchased for both fall 2019 and fall 2020 — has also cost the university. Incoming freshmen purchased 4,171 meal plans in fall 2019, but only 3,690 in fall 2020.

Each regular freshman meal plan costs $2,377 per semester, with the rate remaining the same since the 2019-20 school year. With 481 fewer freshmen purchasing meal plans this semester, the university lost approximately $1,143,337 in revenue, not accounting for the revenue from other meal plan types apart from standard freshman plans.

When the overall costs of other meal plans are factored in — including commuter meal plans and “enhanced” freshman plans, which offer more meals or meal points than standard plans — the university has lost approximately $1,963,362 in meal plan revenue compared to fall 2019.

HOUSING HESITATION

In the fall 2019 semester, 4,009 OU freshmen lived in on-campus housing, according to OU Institutional Research and Reporting. Currently, the cost for students to occupy a standard double room in one of OU’s residential towers for the 2020-21 academic year is listed as $5,662 per semester on the OU Housing and Food website.

Applying the standard room rate for the towers as a rough base for the cost of other room types, OU made approximately $22,698,958 from freshmen students living on campus in fall 2019. Since OU students are required to live on campus for two semesters, the university made roughly $45,397,916 for the academic year — not accounting for the prorated refunds provided due to the spring semester being moved fully online after spring break.

Overall, 5,235 students were listed as living on campus in the fall 2019 semester in data from OU Housing and Food. If the $5,049 average of the listed rates for all OU housing facilities is used — as each housing facility has several different floor plans to choose from, and the data does not indicate which floor plan a resident may live in — then the university made roughly $26,431,515 from housing costs in fall 2019.

According to Harroz, OU’s dorms are at 86 percent capacity for the fall 2020 semester. Data from OU Housing and Food lists 4,455 students currently living in OU housing facilities. Using an approximation from the average of listed OU facility housing rates, the university has made roughly $22,493,295 from housing this semester, down approximately $3,938,220 from fall 2019.

OU Student Steps Up to the Plate During the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: Bradley Cooney, OKARNG servant to your community when needed While the hustle and bustle around OU campus has diminished since spring break, one alongside the daily public servants. It was really rewarding. ” of your fellow students has been supporting her What sort of feelings did you community and her state in the fi ght against have while you wereworking the Covid-19. Kaitlyn Remington, a biochemistry COVID mission? And how do you major, serves as a health care specialist in the feel looking back on it now? Oklahoma Army National Guard (OKARNG). “It was defi nitely different working She spent a portion of 2020 with the OKARG during the start of the pandemic. Such working supporting a medical team in unprecedented times to live in. But I felt McAlester, OK. really proud to be a part of it. And proud I had the privilege of asking her about her experience during her missions as well as her experience in the Oklahoma National Guard. What was the scope of your duties while you wereworking on the governor’s COVID response team? “During the COVID-19 mission, I had the opportunity to work closely with civilian health departments in rural Oklahoma. As a medic, my duties mostly involved swabbing people, then packaging and sending specimens to be tested. I also got to be a part of the public health side in the education of prevention which was nice to see the other side of things with the pandemic; both treating and preventing.” What are some things that you will remember most during your time working the COVID mission? “I will most defi nitely remember the to work alongside the other Soldiers there with me. We were still in Oklahoma but away from home at the same time. And it’s always great to see how people from all sorts of different units come together and work so well as one to get a mission done. Pride is defi nitely at the top of the list.” How does it feel to give back to your community during a time of need? “To be able to be in a position to give back to the people who are there to support us as Soldiers is really awesome, honestly. The people of Oklahoma are always quick to say thank you and show support in different ways. To be able to give back directly is a great feeling. ” What has the Oklahoma National Guard done for you? “The Oklahoma Guard has changed my life in so many positive ways. I’ve learned so many lessons in every aspect of my life. From learning how to truly keep going through whatever life throws at me to the medical skills I get to use in my career, everything is honestly irreplaceable and the experiences alone I’ve gained through the military are unforgettable. As far as resources, you really can’t get them anywhere else. The ability to gain realworld experience and job skills to use on my career path and still be able to go to school and continue my degree is great. “Just do it! There are so many benefi ts. Not just for money for school, but so many real-life lessons and experiences you get to carry with you into your future. It’s truly is irreplaceable to any other decision you could make for yourself and your future. ” How has the National Guard helped you during these hard times? “I was fortunate enough to work in a profession that stayed open during COVID. It defi nitely impacted my schooling though and made things more diffi cult. The Guard reached out multiple times during the pandemic to me and other Soldiers and did what they could to ensure those that needed jobs had a way to earn money throughout the pandemic relief. And honestly, that really speaks to how we look out for our own even in the worst of times. ” Kaitlyn has since returned to her civilian job as an Emergency Department Technician and the Lab Coordinator for Integris Community Hospital. While she is still pursuing her biochemistry degree, she continues to serve her state one weekend a month as a health care specialist in the Oklahoma Army National Guard while getting 100% of her tuition paid for. If you would like to serve your community in some capacity, not just medically, please reach out to unsung heroes of the pandemic. All of the As a medic, I got my civilian EMT license your local career liaison below. civilian workers that took us in with open and learned even more in trauma, so when Heather Britt-Davis arms while we were away from home in I came home from training I was able to (405) 228-5059 these unique times. Working alongside start working in an ER in a hospital and Heather.m.britt-davis.mil@mail.mil them was so much fun and so eye-opening learn so much to carry with me. As I begin to all of the people you never see that to apply to physician’s assistant schools, are behind the scenes making it all run. this experience alone really sets me apart I want to give a huge shout out to the from other applicants!” Pittsburg County Health Department and What would you say to someone surrounding areas! That’s really what the who is thinking about joining the National Guard is all about. Being a public National Guard?