This paper explores the organizational and economic response of higher education to the coronavirus pandemic and the emergency transition to distance learning. We analyze the situation across different categories of universities as well as how they respond to campus closures and to the urgent transition to remote student-faculty interactions in learning. We also assess the education system’s need for additional public funding to promote digital learning environments, foster professional development of faculty members, and create job opportunities for students who have lost their jobs that paid their education and/or accommodation. Improvement scenarios are proposed for the funding mechanisms underlying the fulfillment of government contracts for education and science, which have been applied since 2013.