The UL System is anticipating a five percent loss of revenue by the end of the 2021 fiscal year due to COVID-19 under the current likely scenario.
UL System President Jim Henderson says they can absorb that kind of reduction and still supply a quality education, but if the pandemic were to get any worse that may be difficult.
“Worst case scenario is going to infect every institution in the country and there will be a lot of other impacts that we are talking about,” says Henderson.
The worst-case scenario they’ve drawn up shows a 150 million dollar loss in revenue due to drastic declines in enrollment and the cancellation of sports.
Henderson says some of the loss is due to enrollment from students who are delaying entering college. He says they are being upfront about what expectations should be.
“I dare say that we are going to look far different than we were in the spring when our campuses were virtually empty but we are going to look decidedly different than we were in the fall of 2019.
For the current fiscal year ending June 30th, the UL System is set to suffer a 28 million dollar net loss.
Henderson says the pitch for students uncertain of returning is still the same, that a UL education is a great investment. He says it’s a 14.4 percent annual rate of return on their degree.
“I don’t know what your 401k generations for you but if it is anywhere close to 14.4 percent you are in the top one percent in the country, so it is still a great investment,” says Henderson.
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