Some colleges are planning to reopen their campuses in the fall, taking a gamble on whether the coronavirus pandemic will allow that to happen safely.

In any case, experts are warning that colleges need to proceed with caution.

“Think of packed sports stadiums, think about college parties… [where] students are literally intermingling with each other in large numbers,” Josh Wyner, executive director at the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, told Yahoo Finance. “And the whole idea of the residential experience… they’re gonna to have to have very clear plans for how they’re going to deal with it.”

Basic to-do list for schools and colleges

At a minimum, experts recommend that schools planning to reopen in the fall enforce policies including social distancing, testing, frequent hand washing, and the wearing of masks.

It doesn’t end there. Schedules would need to be completely revamped across the board, and “it may be necessary to reduce the number of students in school on a given day,” the Harvard Global Health Institute’s Dr. Ingrid Katz told Yahoo Finance, adding that options include alternating days or a half-day model.

For residential colleges, which have a “uniquely high risk of spread” due to students living and studying in close quarters, Katz noted, they’ll need to think about rapid testing, tracing, and isolation techniques in addition to updating their resources and technology to support the policies.

“No matter what, some social distancing measures will probably have to remain in place— like keeping large lectures online and banning parties/large gatherings,” Katz stressed.

An added issue involves courses that require hands-on work, such as lab or studio classes, where “it’s hard to put that online and engage students virtually,” Wyner said. “There have been some virtual mechanisms for teaching that have been created, but it can take years to develop those in normal circumstances.”

Shutting down ‘has come at extraordinary costs’

College leaders advocating for reopening their campuses — such as Brown University’s Christina Paxson — worry about a looming crisis in higher education if colleges and universities do not reopen their campuses in the fall.

“Closing down our entire society, including our university, was a correct and necessary step. It has had invaluable results,” Purdue President Mitch Daniels wrote recently. “But like any action so drastic, it has come at extraordinary costs, as much human as economic, and at some point, clearly before next fall, those will begin to vastly outweigh the benefits of its continuance. Interrupting and postponing the education of tomorrow’s leaders for another entire semester or year, is one of many such costs.”