Page 25 - BusinessWest January 10, 2022

OUTLOOK 2022/HIGHER EDUCATION >>
Region’s Colleges, Universities Face More Stern Tests in 2022
Looking ahead to 2022, Sandra Doran proj- ects that this will be what she called “the year of the woman.”
Elaborating, she said many women have put their lives, careers, and educational goals on hold the past few years. And she projects that many will be making up for lost time in the months to come as the region and its large and important
jobs, and many students weren’t able to continue, especially our adult students, those who work and live and go to school, and our graduate students — many of them had to delay their own aspira- tions. And I see many people saying, ‘I’m not going to put that aside any longer.’”
The area’s colleges certainly need this to be the year of the woman — and a better year all around.
ment at all of them over the past two years, but all schools have been impacted by COVID.
“Like every state university in Massachusetts, we’re having enrollment challenges,” said Linda Thompson, who took the helm at Westfield State University last summer, noting that many are still wary about attending college in the midst of a pandemic.
Those we spoke with said ‘normal’ was something they were anticipating would return last fall. Indeed, as COVID cases plummeted over the summer and the economy reopened across the board, there were high expectations for that fall semester, said Harry Dumay, presi- dent of Elms College in Chicopee. But the Delta variant showed how quickly the picture, and expectations, can change.
And as the new year dawns, COVID and its Omicron variant loom large over this sector, with some uncertainty about whether schools can open their campuses for the spring semes- ter (several closed their doors as Omicron cases
spiked in the middle of December) and under what circumstances they can reopen.
“We’ll be watching over the break to see how things develop, and we will have contingency plans in place if we need to do anything differ- ent,” said Dumay, adding that returning students must be vaccinated and receive their boosters as
SANDRA DORAN
“Many people lost their jobs, and many students weren’t able to continue, especially our adult students, those who work and live and go to school, and our graduate students — many of them had to delay their own aspirations. And I see many people saying, ‘I’m not going to put that aside any longer.’”
higher-education sector look to return to some- thing that has been quite elusive since March 2020: normalcy.
“COVID has had a disproportionate impact on women, both in the workforce and in higher edu- cation,” said Doran, president of Bay Path Univer- sity in Longmeadow, a women’s college, at least at the undergraduate level. “Many people lost their
Many had been struggling with enrollment before the pandemic, due to smaller high-school gradu- ating classes, but other factors as well. And the pandemic only exacerbated the problem, with enrollment down more than 3% nationally in the fall of 2021.
The region’s community colleges have been the hardest-hit, with double-digit drops in enroll-
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