Colby poured $10 million into its coronavirus response plan, a significant sum for most institutions, but perhaps less so for the elite liberal arts college. Colby’s sticker price, including room and board, is roughly $77,000 a year, although its endowment of roughly $870 million means many students pay far less or even nothing.
The college also has required students to scale back their parties, submit to tracking via a cellphone app, spread out in dorms and bar essentially all visitors from campus. Such requirements during pre-pandemic times likely would have been met with resistance or indifference from students. Now, they’re welcomed.
Just ask Manny Salas, a senior from Houston who risked a cross-country trip to return to the Maine campus. His family, he said, was more worried about his chances of infection if he stayed home. He knew packing into an airplane carried risks, but he was confident Colby’s testing program would protect him.