A question a lot of people are asking during the Coronavirus or COVID-19 is what Podiatry schools are going to bankrupt and have to close. This is a difficult question since we do not know their current enrollment numbers. All we know is that applications were down for Podiatry schools overall. We also do not know the financial situation of each Podiatry school. We can only guess. The one aspect I would warn you about is do not think because a school is associated with a major university it is safe. A lot of large colleges and universities will be making cut backs due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. At the end of the day I only expect one or two to cease operations in a year or two. Now in five years that is a different question.
If you want to read about impact this COVID-19 Virus is having on Podiatry in general this is pretty much the best article out there:
So here, from what I can determine, are the five Podiatry schools most likely to go bankrupt due to the COVID-19 Pandemic:
1. New York College of Podiatric Medicine– This is the obvious choice. It is going to be hard for this school or really any college or university in New York City to survive. This was just a perfect storm. We are now going to see people move out of NYC, just being realistic. NYC has been decimated by the Coronavirus. It’s hard to see this school survive. This is no knock on NYCPM either, but they were not in the strongest situation before. Combine that with the cold temperature, unless NYCPM has a huge endowment, how are they going to be able to recruit students to go there? It seems impossible now.
2. Western University of Health Sciences of Podiatric Medicine– Again we have a lot of things converging. California is being hard hit. We also have a new school with smaller classes. It’s just tough to see both California schools surviving this and I assume the California one has a better financial situation, but it’s hard to tell. I would be stunned if both California Podiatry schools are operational in a Post COVID-19 world.
3. Dr. William H School of Podiatry at Rosalind Franklin College– Essentially this is a Northern Podiatry school in a city that is being hard hit. It’s going to be very difficult to persuade students to attend Podiatry college in Chicago or New York City after the Coronavirus Pandemic through no fault of the schools. This School is helped a little in that is has moved out of the city enough that it is not located in the hot zone.
4. Midwestern Arizona School of Podiatry– This is just a guess that the economy sucks and this is one of the smaller schools giving it less room for error on surviving the Pandemic. What will probably save it is the climate. The fact is southern schools are just going to be safer. But this being a newer school there is a chance the parent school just throws in the towel sooner than stand alone Podiatry schools do.
5. Kent State School of Podiatry– I know what you are thinking, how is Kent State going to go under, they are associated with a huge public university? Well that might actually be the problem. The State of Ohio is going to be in massive debt due to the Coronavirus. They will most likely be forced to make budget cuts in the university system. Could the school of Podiatry get cut? Probably not, but the possibility cannot be ruled out.
As for schools that I think are 100% safe: I think Barry University School of Podiatry is probably the only safe school. With Floriday avoiding a huge hit due to COVID and being located in Miami where it’s not hard to get students.