A top college official said this week- 

"Now we have to deal with parents...we much prefer dealing with the students."

No kidding...they've created their entire business model centered on building student-appeal, rather than meeting market/ parent needs.

It's August 2nd, but not any ordinary August 2nd. This is the month typically when millions of people begin their trek towards college campuses around the country.

However, the elephant that's been standing in college board rooms since mid-June is now getting attention.

Where the college rhetoric has been- "We're opening campus in the fall", the reality is taking shape differently than was hoped.

Colleges have been madly driven and desperate in their attempt to protect their golden-goose business model and luxurious lifestyles through these challenging times.

They are highly incentivized to bring the students on campus for at least one day. Doing so serves to set their hook into the money.

Announcing a limited-attendance or stay-at-home online study policy will result in a significant drop in student attendance, projected as follows.

Tier 1 schools could see a 10% -15% drop in attendance, which is costly but not life-threatening.

Tier 2 schools could see a 20% -25% drop in attendance, which is financially devastating.

Tier 3 schools could see a 30% drop in attendance, which will seal their doom.

The elephant, aka Covid-19 Pop-Up Hot Spots, was outside hanging around since the beginning after sending everyone home in March.

When half of Clemson's football team, made up of the strongest and fittest men on the planet, tested positive within two weeks of practice in mid-June, the elephant entered the room to heed its fair warning to college officials- bring students on campus and hot-spots will form.

But the elephant's fair warning fell mostly on deaf ears.

Now that the upcoming fall semester is quickly approaching, colleges are scrambling to decide upon their fate. It's a matter of announcing online-study policies risking tuition dollars versus announcing open-campus policies risking Covid-19 infected students.

So far, the trend is that colleges with a lesser financial risk are quicker to announce highly restrictive campus policies tied to online studies.

For the most part, colleges are intent to minimally get their freshmen class on campus for hooking into the longer income stream. They can risk having unsatisfied college seniors, but they can't risk having freshmen no-shows.

Each college will show their hand in the coming days. Stay tuned for more...to plan a call, book here.

What would you do if you were the decision-maker?