First there is the question of how to come up with half a billion dollars, a burden that could fall in part on students and taxpayers. Then there are the investigations by the state attorney general and the federal Education Department that could lead to criminal charges for administrators and federal penalties.

Those challenges do not include the mountain of work that must be done to prevent future abuse, repair the university’s battered image and attract new students. There is no playbook for such a task.

“I think it’s such a profound topic that I don’t think anyone should feel comfortable telling them what to do,” said Jim Rawlins, the admissions director at the University of Oregon. “There aren’t many other cases like this where you can say, ‘oh yeah, it’s one of these.’”

Dr. Nassar’s case captivated the nation in January during his sentencing in state court. For days, woman after woman recounted his abuse and how, if they complained, they were mostly ignored by law enforcement and university officials. Some of the women were famous gymnasts, assaulted by Dr. Nassar in his role with the United States Olympic team. Others were local residents who sought treatment at the university clinic. Soon after Dr. Nassar was sentenced to prison, Michigan State’s longtime president, Lou Anna K. Simon, resigned.

Scandal can scare off students. In the aftermath of abuse by an assistant football coach at Pennsylvania State University, applications declined for a time, though the cause was debated. And at the University of Missouri’s flagship campus, where protests against racial bias drew national attention in 2015, enrollment dropped off so much that some dorms were closed.