For colleges, COVID-19 vaccines come too late to save spring semester By Janet Lorin and Danielle Moran Bloomberg,Updated December 10, 2020, 12:08 p.m. Email to a Friend Colleges canât count on a coronavirus vaccine to save the spring semester. Because young, healthy students are at the back of the line for shots, dorms that are already lightly populated are unlikely to fill up soon. That threatens revenue and creates risk for investors who financed a decades-long building boom. A vaccine, which is on the cusp of approval, could end the financial pain, though colleges will have to wait for their share. "We have seen overwhelming interest from all sectors, and higher education is no exception," said Laurie Forlano, Virginia's deputy commissioner for population health.