New CDC Report Finds Masks Lessen COVID-19 Spread on Campus
Universal masking and fewer encounters with individuals with COVID-19 reduces the spread of COVID-19 on college campuses, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). On September 10, the CDC published SARS-CoV-2 Transmission to Masked and Unmasked Close Contacts of University Students with COVID-19 – St. Louis, Missouri, January–May 2021.
The CDC partnered with St. Louis University (SLU), a mid-size private university, to study the spread of COVID-19 among roughly 12,000 students and 6,000 employees on campus during the spring 2021 semester. The report states 275 students tested positive for COVID-19 who then in turn identified 378 close contacts. Researchers found that among those close contacts, “26 (7 percent) reported only masked exposure, and 352 (93 percent) reported any unmasked exposure” according to a CDC September 10 press release. The percentage of positive test results “was substantially higher among contacts with any unmasked exposure.”
The CDC believes “universities opening for in-person instruction could consider taking mask use into account.” The report concludes by recommending universal masking in indoor spaces for everyone in areas with substantial or high transmission rates and masking indoors for unvaccinated individuals regardless of transmission rates.
Drastic Decline in Transfer Students
On August 13, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) published COVID-19 Transfer, Mobility, and Progress: Academic Year 2020–2021 Report. It is the fifth in a series of reports aimed at assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on 2.1 million undergraduate transfer students.
“Higher education lost about 191,500 transfer students, nearly three times last year’s losses (-69,300),” according to the final report. Its key findings focus on three areas: upward transfers moving from two-year to four-year institutions, persistence post-transfer, and trends at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs).
Upward transfer patterns varied along institutional selectivity as well as race and ethnicity. In total, upward transfers represent a small portion of the total student enrollment declines (11,900 total or -1.3 percent). Black and Native American upward transfers declined (-6.1 percent and -4.1 percent respectively) and White upward transfer students declined by 4.4 percent.
On the other hand, “Asian and Latinx upward transfers grew (+5.9 percent and +1.4 percent respectively).” While most colleges and universities experienced pandemic-driven losses regarding transfer students, the report found highly selective institutions increased their total transfer enrollment (10.3 percent) across all student groups.
NSCRC discovered subgroup disparities within persistence post-transfer data. At the beginning of the pandemic, Native Americans and Latinx students in community colleges and Black transfers into private nonprofit four-year institutions experienced the largest persistence rate declines. Yet, as the pandemic progressed, researchers found “almost equal levels of persistence rate drops occurring for most racial and ethnic groups in public institutions.”
Lastly, COVID-19 Transfer, Mobility, and Progress produced significant data pertaining to HSI and HBCU transfer students. The final report stated HSIs lost approximately 70,400 students (-11.8 percent) while HBCUs “remained largely unaffected.” The post-transfer persistence rates also declined at both types of institutions, but HSIs made small gains at the end of 2020. These patterns align with national trends and “declines in mobility at these institutions were largely driven by men.”
HBCUs Erasing Student Debt Through CARES Act Funding
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) allocated $1 billion to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). Over 25 percent of HBCUs are utilizing these funds to erase institutional debts for their students.
Institutional student debt is different than federal student debt because it focuses on student barriers imposed by the institution, such as restricting student access to transcripts or course enrollment until debt is paid off. Debt relief in any form is welcomed by Black and African American college students “who are the most likely to struggle financially due to student loan debt,” according to 2021 data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Trinity Washington University, Clark Atlanta University, and Florida A&M University are just a few of the HBCUs wiping out institutional debt.
“We care about students and want to lighten their individual and family’s financial load so they can continue their journey in pursuing and attaining educational and professional goals,” said Clark Atlanta University President George T. French Jr.
White House Launches Initiative to Strengthen HBCUs
On September 3, President Joseph Biden released the “Executive Order on White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).” This Initiative strives to create a “Government-wide policymaking effort to eliminate barriers HBCUs face in providing the highest-quality education to a growing number of students,” according to the executive order. Biden’s announcement came days before the start of National HBCU Week. It is the Biden administration’s latest move to advance educational equity and student success through HBCUs.
IPEDS Tracks Continual Decrease in American Colleges and Universities
The latest data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) reveals that the higher education industry is shrinking. IPEDS data on the number of Title IV institutions in the United States details the number of public and private higher education institutions that merged or closed between 2017–2021.
According to IPEDS, the total number of colleges and universities eligible for U.S. federal student aid decreased by 82 in the 2020–21 academic year, down by 579 since the 2017–18 academic year. For-profit institutions accounted for approximately three-quarters of closures. The number of community colleges decreased by 2.7 percent and the number of public four-year institutions also declined by 2.3 percent during the 2019–20 to 2020–21 academic years.
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