Pitt plans for fall could include hybrid semester

University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Patrick Gallagher is broaching the possibility that Pitt, one of the region’s biggest universities and a major factor in the local economy, may not be able to reopen for business as usual this fall.

Like schools across the nation, Pitt was forced to close its campuses last month, provide refunds for room and board and move spring semester classes online as efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic spread.

Now, Pitt is among a handful of universities that have openly discussed what others are only talking about behind closed doors: the possibility that current conditions could continue through the fall.

Although Pitt has yet to make any decisions about the fall semester, Gallagher says it may well turn out to be some kind of hybrid where students cycle between smaller classes on campus and online depending upon how the virus declines and surges.

In a virtual meeting this week with the Pitt University Senate Council, which includes faculty, staff and students, he said Pitt incurred $30 million to $40 million in costs as it mothballed most of its dorms and classrooms and retooled to continue online operations during the pandemic shutdown. It could be looking at even greater losses, he said, if enrollment declines and if international students, who now account for nearly 10 percent of enrollment, opt not to return.

He also raised concerns about Pennsylvania not including funding for the university in the 2021 budget. The state is facing an estimated loss of $3 billion to $4 billion in tax revenue.

Gallagher said Pitt’s $4 billion endowment, which officials tap for student aid, has taken hits in a highly volatile market.

“What happens in the future will depend upon how this pandemic unfolds and how the public health community attacks it. … Back to normal is probably not likely for the fall because there will be no vaccine or widespread immunity,” he said.

Although some look at the sprawling Oakland campus as a world unto itself, the region’s economic health has long been tied to its colleges and universities. Pitt — with an enrollment of 34,000 students, about 13,000 employees and an annual budget of $2.3 billion — regularly ranks among the region’s top 10 employers.

Concerns about the financial health of colleges and universities, which pump about $640 billion a year into the national economy, have been mounting for weeks. Already last month covid-19 challenges prompted financial analysts at Moody’s Investor’s Service to downgrade the financial outlook for higher education from stable to negative.

Gallagher said officials at Pitt, faced with uncertainty about when or if social distancing orders will be lifted, are working to plan for hybrid operations. The university would plan to cycle classes with greatly reduced numbers on campus, and then off campus, if the virus declines and then revives itself.

“Some models suggest we will move in and out of this. It may be that we have red flag days and yellow flag days that would go back and forth,” he said.

He said the uncertainty and financial issues are threatening the very existence of some small colleges.

Pitt, however, recently refinanced its debt and has a cushion that could see it through the next year, with some adjustments.

“We are a people-driven university. The last thing I want to do is see a reduction in faculty or staff. The fact that our financial emergency doesn’t happen in the fall, but a year later is a real gift so we can look at adjustments we’ll need to survive,” Gallagher said.