Some of America’s most beautiful spaces — our colleges and university campuses — are closed and empty these days. Schools have canceled their spring semesters and commencements because of the COVID-19 virus; classrooms, dormitories and athletic facilities have been closed.

Students at many institutions are told that they can continue to access instruction online. But exams and grades have been canceled in many cases, and one suspects that online viewership will be sporadic and concentration intermittent.

But students shouldn’t hover around their home mailboxes waiting for an envelope with a tuition rebate check. And students — and parents — who expect that their campuses will reopen in fall, next spring or the fall after that may be in for surprise and disappointment.

American higher education has been in serious and increasing trouble in the past two decades. Yes, it’s true that American university science and technology departments lead the world, and the (increasingly unscientific) social sciences and (often inhumane) humanities departments can still boast some brilliant scholars.

But at some point, too much of a good thing stops being a good thing. People have observed for years that college graduates make more money over their lifetime than non-college graduates. But it doesn’t follow that people not headed to college will make money if they go there.

Administrators now outnumber teachers at American colleges and universities. Many spend their time in meetings and conferences promoting “equity, inclusivity and diversity.” Some spend time enforcing speech codes prohibiting free expression that colleges and universities at one time fostered. Others are occupied in regulating adult students’ social behavior, conducting kangaroo courts in which those accused of sexual harassment or assault are denied any presumption of innocence, the ability to call witnesses and knowledge of any charges.

The fact is that the residential college, the model of American higher education since its 17th-century foundations, is the exception rather than the rule in most of the world. University students typically live in parental homes or with roommates in cheap nearby apartments. That’s true of most undergraduates in Britain, where Cambridge and Oxford and their beautiful quads were the models for Harvard and William & Mary.

For the 100 or so selective colleges, the residential college model will continue to be profitable. But even Harvard, with its $37 billion endowment, saw fit to lay off hundreds of subcontracted campus dining hall workers.

Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of lesser-known schools, whose graduates never get interviews with Goldman Sachs, may be thrust into bankruptcy if the perceived need for social distancing closes classrooms or reduces enrollments. As Heather Mac Donald writes in City Journal, “Students and their parents may start to ask why they should pay astronomical fees for a campus experience if they can get the same instruction over the web.”

And perhaps some college and university administrators will ask whether they can somehow cut back on administrative bloat, especially if the alternative is figuring out some other use for their beautiful but suddenly obsolete campuses.

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Michael Barone is a nationally syndicated columnist.