Bethune Cookman postponing face-to-face learning until mid-February due to COVID-19

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Bethune Cookman University is keeping students out of classrooms until at least the middle of next month due to COVID-19.

In the meantime, President E. LaBrent Chrite said the university has put in a request to serve as a vaccination location.

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Chrite said given the likely spike in cases from people attending Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations it was in the best interest of the university to postpone face-to-face learning until at least Feb. 15.

“This is not as easy; many of (the students) don’t have the kind of infrastructure where they live, and so that’s a challenge,” Chrite said.

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Chrite said to make it less of a challenge the university is taping all its lectures and sending laptops out to students who need them.

He said virtual learning has not just put a stress on students and staff but on the university’s finances.

BCU managed to lower its debt from $20 million to $8 million through cuts, fundraising and help from the state. But Chrite said the university is losing dorm revenue as students stay home.

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“It is costing us a couple million dollars obviously we don’t have,” Chrite said.

But through it all he said the school’s balance sheet remains strong as it weathers these blows.