To build upon this answer a little bit, people want to go back in person not for the educational reasons but for social reasons. While you can learn in an onlin

To build upon this answer a little bit, people want to go back in person not for the educational reasons but for social reasons. While you can learn in an online format and (with enough work/investment) make the experience similar to in-person classes, you cannot replace the social aspects of college with an online environment. US colleges have been moving from a learning experience towards a social experience build on to of learning (see, for example, https://www.nber.org/papers/w18745 https://www.nber.org/papers/w18745). My university was in person last fall but classes mostly online, students still socialized (e.g., partied) even if health recommendations were strongly recommend against it.