COVID Exposed Our Broken Education System

The Pandemic Exposed Our Broken Higher-Education System. It’s Also Given Us a Chance to Make Things Better

by SANDY HINGSTON

The chaos of COVID could mean the start of a new era in saner, fairer college admissions. Sometimes it takes a revolution to build a better world.

For years, admission to elite colleges and universities has depended on a, well, dependable set of factors. As ranked in a survey of admissions employees in 2019 — pre-­pandemic — those were grades, curriculum strength, standardized test scores, and the admissions essay. 

U.S. colleges saw undergraduate enrollment for spring 2021 drop by 4.9 percent over spring 2020. That’s a decline of 727,000 students. 

In the first year of the pandemic, higher ed lost more than 650,000 jobs.

Colleges and universities are having to make changes in the application requirements. 

Students report not wanting to attend college for fear of financial debt and student loans.

More colleges and universities are looking to keep test optional 

Schools looking to “dig” a little deeper into the whole student. Putting more emphasis on essays and written work.

As the world navigates back into a normal world, schools are taking a closer look at what works and what needs to change.