This was the year when colleges had to throw out their plans for freshmen. Many colleges offered only online instruction, or had students on campus but still taking most of their classes online. Nationally, freshman enrollment is down 13 percent.

But Mount St. Mary's University, in Maryland, which last captured media attention for a certain scandal in 2016, is having an unusually successful year. Many credit Timothy E. Trainor. 

Normally during times of economic upheaval, people flock to community colleges for education and training to improve their job prospects or jumpstart a new career. 

The pandemic has changed that scenario, with enrollment tumbling this fall at community colleges. Many would-be learners have suffered job losses and can no longer afford to take classes. Some must care for children whose school is now virtual. Others are struggling with limited internet access and overall uncertainty about the future.

Photo: Anna Barczyk

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County periodically reaches out to students who left the school without completing their degrees, usually enticing a dozen or so to return. But the coronavirus pandemic presented the university with a new opportunity—and a new campaign to get more stopped-out students back on track.