ORLANDO, Fla. — Disney CEO Bob Chapek is hopeful the Disney College Program could resume by the end of the year.

During the company’s annual shareholder meeting Tuesday, Chapek was asked about the status of the program and if any dates could be shared.

Although Chapek said there was no specific date for when the program could restart, he said it likely would depend on when the company could start lifting some of the pandemic restraints at its parks.

“We hope to be able to reinstate that once some of the constraints on the number of guests that we can actually put into our parks starts to ease up with the pandemic as it starts to resolve itself,” Chapek said.

He added that there were “no specifics” that the company could promise right now.

Later in the meeting, Chapek was asked if exceptions would be made for students who may have graduated during the program’s hiatus and missed their chance to participate. Chapek said the company had not considered that but he would follow up on it.

The Disney College Program was suspended in March 2020 as Disney World began shutting down its theme parks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. And college program participants were abruptly sent home.

In July, Disney World reopened its parks but the program remained on hiatus. Disney issued an update saying that the programs for both Disney World and Disneyland would remain suspended “until further notice.”

The Disney College Program allows college students to work at Disney’s parks and, in some cases, earn college credit while participating.