COVID-19 Update: PPP Loan Plans, Modest Financial Aid Increases

(From NBOA) Polling data from a recent NBOA webinar, Your Questions Answered: PPP Fund Compliance, suggests that most schools that have received a PPP loan will use it even if they are subject to federal regulations such as Title IX and Title VI. Of the 200 attendees that participated in the polling, only 6 said they have decided not to apply for a loan or don't qualify. Additionally, it seems that most schools expect to expend the funds on forgivable expenses within eight weeks. Otherwise, they will more likely return the funds rather than roll them into a low interest loan.

Even at this late date, enrollment for the 2020-21 school year is still uncertain, possibly reflecting families’ unknown financial positions come fall and schools’ extension of deadlines for returning enrollment contracts. The good news is that the polling suggests changes in financial aid and enrollment are anticipated to be smaller rather than larger. Most schools expect that increases in financial aid allocations and decreases in enrollment will both be less than 15%.

When asked when their schools might reopen physical campuses, school leaders think it is more likely that in-person classes will resume in fall 2020 than in January 2021 or fall 2021. Very few schools have adjusted or plan to adjust tuition for all families if in-person classes do not resume this coming fall.

In recent weeks, several independent schools across the country have created financial assistance funds to help those impacted by the pandemic, including the Churchills School and Center in New York City, the Avery Coonley School in Downers Grove, Illinois, and Georgetown Day School (GDS) in Washington, DC. GDS announced it will redirect the school’s primary fundraising efforts to focus on the One GDS Community Crisis Fund. In addition to supporting families that have suffered economically as a result of COVID-19, GDS hopes the fund will “provide equitable access to upgraded and expanded technology to ensure all of our students, faculty and staff have the tools they need to stay connected and work successfully and efficiently in this new environment.”