Assessing the Impact

The novel coronavirus is devastating multiple industries and organizations from local restaurants to global airlines and hotel chains. Avasant, a California-based consultancy, and its subsidiary company Computer Economics, created this graphic to illustrate the scope of impact expected in 11 industries.

Higher education and non-profits are the two sectors closest to private, independent and international schools, and the COVID-19 effect is expected to be "major." Much of the impact will be on personnel and revenue. While online platforms such as Coursera and Zoom are enjoying rapid adoption throughout education, schools themselves are or will be under increasing pressure. Just one stressor: "...universities are preparing for substantial economic fallout, both from less revenue from student tuition and the risk that there will be fewer international—and higher fee-paying—students in their next intake." This will hit boarding schools especially hard.For nonprofit organizations in general, particular those dependent in some measure on philanthropy, Avasant expects that "...a worldwide recession will most likely cause grants and donations to decline."The good news, if one can call it such, is that most schools have already received 2019-20 revenue, and most of the COVID-19 impact on revenue will happen in the 2020-21 school year. This means that the window for gauging the impact on your school's operations is open and closing fast--best to act now to form contingency plans.