The Next Financial Blow
Financial pain from the coronavirus pandemic is hitting the nation’s colleges and universities hard, and Northwest Missouri State University is no exception.
John Jasinski, president of the four-year institution, which enrolls more than 7,000 students and is located 100 miles north of Kansas City, Mo., has been dealing with serious challenges the crisis brought to the university’s budget.
Already reeling from the pandemic and recession, public colleges face severe state budget cuts in coming weeks.
Jasinski said he’s put off spending money where he can, on professional development, upgrading educational software and other areas, as the crisis brings unexpected costs such as the more than $4 million the public university is spending to refund students’ room and board fees after classes were moved online.
But two weeks ago — in what could be a harbinger of the pain coming soon to other universities around the country — things got even worse.
