For New York’s May 11–24, 2020, issue cover, the magazine delves into the future of college — and what the university experience might look like in the fall — as college students spend this month deciding whether it will be worth the price tag. The package includes a conversation with NYU Stern marketing professor (and co-host of New York’s Pivot podcast) Scott Galloway on how big tech could swallow college education, and how colleges will market themselves in a post-COVID world; six students on whether to defer next year; Anna Silman on what a college counselor is hearing; four professors on what will change (and what should); six college seniors on graduating into the void; and more.
The conversation around the future of college isn’t new, but the coronavirus has thrust it into the limelight in a new way. “For years, critics have been arguing that college was on a collision course — with skyrocketing tuition and pummeling student debt — and now the pandemic has added a wild new dimension to the already tough calculus of whether to pursue a college degree,” says New York features director Genevieve Smith of the magazine’s decision to focus on college. “With many kids facing a June 1 deadline for deciding whether to attend in the fall, we knew this was the perfect time to try to understand what college really is, what it will look like in the fall, and what it could be in the long run.”
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