Students hoping for a return to normalcy in the spring may need to realize that’s far from reality and the current model the California State University (CSU) system has put in place may last the rest of the academic year.

In a recent U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee hearing, CSU Chancellor Tim White addressed the ongoing pandemic and future of higher education within the CSU system. He also emphasized those current situations colleges face are more than a short term problem.

“A lot of people are using the past tense, ‘How did you manage the pandemic,’” White said to the subcommittee. “This is not a two-month problem or a six-month problem. This is a 12-, 18-, 24-month, at a minimum problem.”

White was alongside Minneapolis College President Sharon Pierce, Western Governors University President Scott Pulsipher and American Educational Research Association President Shaun Harper, shared how their students, faculty and campuses have dealt with the pandemic and how Congress can better serve them while the decisions by the various campuses for the fall semester are being made.

In May, the CSU system was the first in that nation to announce a shift toward virtual heavy instruction, with the exception of a minimal amount of in-person classes in order to combat the spread of COVID-19 within its 23 campuses.

The percentage of in-person CSU courses being offered in the fall range anywhere from 3 percent to 10 percent of all courses offered system wide, as over 70,000 classes have been pivoted to virtual modalities. 

According to White, the reasoning behind a full return to campus being postponed long term is based on health officials projecting a bump in infections this summer and later this year.

“We imagine another bump this summer. We have a very strong forecast of a greater wave of this disease coupled with influenza come October/November and another wave coming in March/April,” White said. “So our planning has been for the longer-term rather than trying to figure out how we get to the next two weeks or two months.”

During the hearing, White also made a push for the Congress to pass the $3 trillion Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES Act, negating the effects of the deep budget cuts on both the CSU and University of California systems by the state. CSU will lose $299 million dollars in state funding unless the federal relief funding is approved by Oct. 15. 

White estimated that CSU campuses had $337 million in unanticipated costs and revenue loss during the spring. Those costs were in a span of three months equaling out to $100 million dollars a year and he says CSU anticipates that rate to continue for the next 12 months.

“As we plan for the fall and beyond, the CSU confronts a grim new fiscal reality,” White said.” Our campuses face soaring costs and mounting revenue losses associated with the pandemic, putting our student’s well-being at significant risk.”

In May, the HEROES Act passed through the House, but has yet to get off the ground as it has largely been ignored by the Senate.

California Rep. and Chair of the House’s Higher Education and Workforce Investment Committee Susan Davis understands that the pandemic has impacted schools greatly and that support of the HEROES Act is unequivocally needed.

“The evidence is overwhelmingly clear. Congress must do more to support students and institutions,” Davis said. “The HEROES Act would take a critical step in the right direction.