The current Covid-19 pandemic has led to various challenges in institutions for higher learning. One of the biggest challenges has been the closure of learning institutions to curb the pandemic's spread. Closure of the public learning institutions has affected the education process and the retention of the students enrolled in various institutions. The solution has been a shift to online learning systems, which has also been hard to run smoothly in the wake of the economic decline. In Alabama, there has been a challenge to retain most of the students enrolled due to the effects of COVID-19 (Tcrain, 2020). According to the Alabama Commission of higher learning director, Jim Purcell, colleges and universities expect to face a large decline in retention of the students enrolled in their institutions (Tcrain, 2020).
In most of Alabama’s higher learning institutions, most of the students enrolled are from other states. After the COVID-19 struck the learning processes, most students went home and started learning via online platforms. There has been a backlash on whether the students will still resume their respective Alabama learning institutions as it is expected that the students enroll in universities and colleges in their respective states. Whereas Alabama depends on outer state enrolment, retaining the student population will be a key challenge (Tcrain, 2020). According to Jim Purcell, it is projected that the out of state enrollment will decline by up to 10%. Moreover, despite the reopening plans such as at Alabama University, the student population will decline sharply as most of the students will prefer learning from home.
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As learning institutions in Alabama strive to ensure there is learning in the respective institutions, online learning has been adopted to avoid the spread of COVID -19. There have been efforts to implement different learning schedule to ensure all the students are catered for (Burgess, 2020). However, some of the learning schedules are not convenient for many students. The majority of the students had shifted focus from learning as they waited for schools to open and ventured into other activities such as work-study programs. Despite the online learning classes being implemented, many students will be left behind, and this will affect their study programs (Burgess, 2020). Eventually, it is highly expected that many students will either abandon their studies or defer indefinitely. Retention processes of students the learning institutions will be negatively affected, and the student population will decline.
COVID-19 pandemic has led to an economic decline to the students and the institutions of higher learning in Alabama. The majority of the economic activities taking place were halted by the pandemic leading to an economic crisis. Many Alabama institutions were highly affected, as there were fewer financial resources to support their major activities. Eventually, even the respective institutions' staff had to engage in furlough schemes to earn a living. Alabama has many students on scholarships from various colleges and universities. After the pandemic effects, it will be hard to maintain the scholarships due to a lack of enough financial resources (Burgess, 2020). Most students on the scholarships will have to find other financial sources, and their studies will be affected as some of the students will have to terminate their studies indefinitely. Student retention in various academic programs will be negatively impacted as students terminate their studies due to a lack of financial sources.
In terms of the students' financial resources for smooth learning, there has been a massive decline due to the effects of COVID-19. Like the universities, colleges and other learning institutions in Alabama prepare for a possible reopening in the fall, virtual learning has been adopted. Virtual and online learning classes require many resources such as laptops and high speed internet. In the wake of the financial struggles being experienced, all the students can access high speed internet and laptops and be available for the online classes. It has, therefore, been hard to maintain the previously enrolled student population. Moreover, many students are likely to divert their attention from studies as they strive to be financially stable. In Alabama, it is projected that schools may open partially in the fall, but this will depend on the status of the COVID-19 spread and infection curves. Retaining the students in the academic programs before the possible reopening of learning institutions will be a challenge as many students will have shifted their focus from academics (Burgess, 2020).
As learning institutions prepare for reopening probably in April next year, many precautions have been laid to prevent surges in spread and infection of COVID-19. Some of the precautions include social distancing and reducing the number of students attending classes ( Sheikh et al., 2020) . One of the adopted ways is laying different learning schedules to ensure all the students partake in classes. Currently, many of the students are learning from home, and attending classes at odd hours will be a challenge ( Sheikh et al., 2020) . It is expected that many students will enroll in outer state learning institutions that will continue offering online learning due to the inconvenient learning schedules as well as fear of being infected by the COVID-19. Eventually, despite reopening, learning institutions in Alabama will face a huge decline in student enrolment.
In conclusion, COVID-19 has affected the learning processes by the termination of studies by many students. The pandemic has also led to a financial crisis that has affected the learning institutions as well as students. Retaining the students previously enrolled in academic programs will be a hard task. Moreover, despite reopening of schools, the student population is expected to decline due to the learning schedules' inconvenience as fear of students getting infected with the COVID-19.
References
Burgess, S., & Sievertsen, H. H. (2020). Schools, skills, and learning: The impact of COVID-19 on education. VoxEu. Org , 1 .
Sheikh, A., Sheikh, A., Sheikh, Z., & Dhami, S. (2020). Reopening schools after the COVID-19 lockdown. Journal of global health , 10 (1).
Tcrain.T. (2020, May 30). Alabama college enrollment will be impacted by coronavirus, official says. Retrieved November 14, 2020, from https://www.al.com/news/2020/05/alabama-college-enrollment-will-be-impacted-by-coronavirus-official-says.html
