As colleges around the country map out plans to reopen their campuses in the fall, they have embarked on some unique and pricey shopping expeditions: sourcing miles of plexiglass, hundreds of thousands of face masks and, in the case of the University of Central Florida, trying to get in an order for 1,200 hand-sanitizer stations before neighboring theme parks could buy them all up.
Costs for protective gear, cleaning supplies and labor for employees to take students’ temperatures and conduct hourly wipe-downs of doorknobs are already running into the millions of dollars.
The added expenses come as many schools face severe budget crunches due to lower enrollment and tuition revenue, refunded housing fees from the spring and costs tied to shifting online. Even well-resourced schools are trying to fundraise to stock up on supplies.
Reopening college campuses is contingent on approval from local health officials, who in some states haven’t yet signed off on campus-based instruction. Still, many schools remain hopeful and are pushing ahead with planning, with some already bringing student-athletes back for voluntary workouts.
In Florida, one of the first states to reopen for business during the coronavirus pandemic, the University of Central Florida in Orlando will issue one reusable, washable face covering each to all students, faculty and staff—about 100,000 items. The school ordered another 250,000 disposable masks for visitors and those who forget their face coverings. The bill for masks was $309,000.
The school, which had 69,500 students last year and expects about 30% of classes to be taught face-to-face this fall, spent another $491,000 on 1,200 touchless hand-sanitizer dispensers, 600 stations for disinfecting-wipe dispensers and many thousands of refills.
One challenge is that officials don’t know how soon they will have to reorder supplies and if the products will be available when needed. “We have no historical trending to know how far those will go,” said Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Misty Shepherd.
Other big-ticket items for Central Florida include $500,000 to upgrade ventilation systems with ultraviolet lighting that can help kill bacteria. It will spend $600,000 to retrofit doors with motion-sensor technology or foot-operated openers and to install $54-apiece plexiglass panels in the welcome center, student advising office and other high-traffic areas where social distancing isn’t really possible. The school is also budgeting an extra $3 million for labor and materials costs tied to increased cleaning of common areas, elevator buttons, door handles and bathrooms.
Chapman University in Orange, Calif., put the price tag for all its extra precautions and gear at $8.3 million. That includes $1.65 million to contract with Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings for mass testing, $350,000 for upgraded heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment, and $260,000 for all 8,500 students to get three washable masks with the Chapman logo. Hundreds of thousands of dollars will likely be needed for infrared technology that can detect potentially feverish people entering high-traffic areas like the library, where it is not practical to take every person’s temperature with a forehead thermometer. The school is still getting price estimates for that technology.
The reopening costs hit Chapman as the school is anticipating financial strain, including expecting its student body to be about 10% smaller than normal. It is staring down a $57 million budget gap.
President Daniele Struppa and Harold Hewitt Jr., the executive vice president and chief operating officer, have filled that budget hole by restricting travel, cutting senior-staff pay, freezing new hiring and stalling some capital projects. If Orange County health officials don’t authorize reopening for fall term, Mr. Hewitt said, “We will have to revisit that concept fundamentally” and make more dramatic cuts, though expenses would also be lower.
Chapman also landed a $1 million unsolicited gift from a parent for tests and masks and is looking to raise another $2 million off that.
Purdue University in Indiana has budgeted $50 million for safety materials and measures, including buying 5 miles of plexiglass to date to help protect faculty in classrooms.
“We’re going to try to leave nothing to chance,” President Mitch Daniels said at a Senate hearing earlier this month.
To help buy supplies, Purdue created a dedicated fundraising campaign for protective gear. A donation of $62.50 can buy one student protection kit with masks, sanitizer, wipes and a thermometer, while $1,250 will get 50 antibody tests.
It had raised more than $214,000 from nearly 800 donors as of early Wednesday, according to the crowdfunding website.
“You can help us protect our students, student-athletes, faculty, staff, residences and facilities by making a gift to support the Protect Purdue Initiative,” Mr. Daniels says in a video promoting the campaign. “Together, we can make Purdue safe.”