College enrollment is dropping, and that’s not just the epidemic: Americans are finally wise.
The National Student Information Exchange Research Center reported that college enrollment fell 3.2 percent last year, down 6.5 percent from the previous two years — the biggest drop in 50 years.
Yes, pandemic-related restrictions are one factor: Why go when classes aren’t in-person, and social contact is very limited too? But as with so many other things, COVID has only accelerated change. The number of registrants has already decreased by more than 2 million from 2011 to 2019.
One issue is the high tuition fees. Costs for the 2008-2009 academic year were an average of $38,720 for a private US college, and $16,460 for a public college. Today, the numbers are $48,510 and $21,370. That’s a 25 percent increase over 10 years.
Yes, it’s easy to get loans – but that money you still owe if you don’t get the degree that makes it easy to pay it off. Student debt totals $1.7 trillion.
Second, product decline: Universities eager to attract fee-paying clients regularly lower graduation standards and turn a blind eye to degrees in unmarketable areas.
Third, the intolerant left is increasingly running the campus display — with star-studded rooms for allegations of sexual abuse, active persecution of dissidents and everything taught through a racial, gender, and/or Marxist lens. The heated debate corresponds to “white supremacy.”
Fourth, college has nothing to do with a lot of high paying jobs. Plumbers earn $60,700 on average, and the nation has a 55 percent deficit. Electricians earn an average of $59,190 a year, yet the nation has 81,000 job openings for electricians.
Longshoremen can liquidate $100,000 annually with overtime; The average truck driver starts at over $70,000.
Fifth, some children are not intended for college: On more than 200 campuses in 2017, more than half of incoming students had to take remedial courses.
Bottom line: The entire college sector needs to fix — or continue to shrink.
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