As uncertainty surrounding the return to normalcy deepens amid the coronavirus crisis, colleges and universities have begun to think through what the fall might hold for higher education. Some of their proposed plans, most notably those advanced in a New York Times op-ed by Brown University President Christina Paxton, ignore a few large elephants in the room to push for a return to the status quo in September.

First, U.S. higher education is extraordinarily dependent on international students, many of whom come from China, and almost all of whom pay full tuition. The Wall Street Journal reports that the share of international students has increased dramatically in the last few decades. Most notably, China accounted for a third of the whopping $30 billion spent by international students in the U.S. on tuition, fees, and living expenses by 2015.