MOLINE, Illinois — Both the Quad Cities and Macomb campuses of Western Illinois University have been empty for weeks now, as students and faculty transition to online learning because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
"It's been surreal experience on campus because there's nobody there," Interim President Dr. Martin Abraham says. "It has to be really unusual for students to be dealing with it."
Like countless colleges and universities across the country, Western is getting emergency federal aid -- $8,000,000 total from the CARES Act relief package.
Dr. Abraham says more than half of that aid will go toward grants for students, to cover emergency expenses they've had when classes ended like rent, food or technology.
The rest of the money, which Western is still waiting to get from the federal government, will cover room and board refunds for students, new technology to move resources and classes online and paying essential workers still on campus.
Despite the outbreak, the university is still seeing an increase in enrollment rates.
"We've been fairly surprised for that because we've been expecting enrollment to be very negatively impacted," Dr. Abraham says.
The university hasn't changed any admissions requirements based on the outbreak, and is still taking applications.
"For students who maybe haven't started the application process, it's not too late," Kassie Daly, interim director of transfer services, says. "There are plenty of colleges, Western Illinois University being one of them, accepting applications."
Even though the enrollment numbers are looking good, Dr. Abraham says it's still hard to predict exactly what will happen next fall.
"We're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll continue to do well," he says.
Western has also scheduled a virtual commencement ceremony in May, and is planning a postponed, in-person ceremony later this year.