The COVID-19 pandemic changed the ways schools operate, how classes were taught, and how students learned and socialized in 2020. Life still hasn’t returned to normal for anyone, including students away at college. Interior design may seem like a lower priority in the wake of such a health crisis, but these professionals would argue the exact opposite — that it’s more important than ever. That’s because leasing, retention, and making students and parents feel safe and secure as they return to their college experiences is more important than ever. The pandemic shifted higher education from in-person classes to online learning in 2020. This gave students and parents an entire year to reassess whether going away to school was the right decision going forward. This has been compounded by a focus on increasing education costs, as well as many colleges announcing that the 2021 to 2022 school year would emphasize hybrid learning, with lots of classes remaining online as the Delta variant took hold. The cumulative result of all this was a 4 percent decrease in undergraduate enrollment in 2021, per the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Freshman enrollment for the fall 2021 semester start sank by 13 percent when compared to …
