Colleges Are About to See a Big Decline in Applicants (nymag.com)
- Reference: 0179191770
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/12/1954243/colleges-are-about-to-see-a-big-decline-in-applicants
- Source link: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/u-s-colleges-are-about-to-see-a-big-decline-in-applications.html
Regional four-year institutions in the Northeast and Midwest states face potential applicant pool contractions of 15% or more. Small liberal arts colleges, comprising 40% of the higher education market, are particularly vulnerable. 40% of private colleges posted financial losses in 2023. Top-ranked schools in the US News top 50 are expected to experience minimal impact due to sustained national demand for limited seats.
[1] https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/u-s-colleges-are-about-to-see-a-big-decline-in-applications.html
Maybe (Score:5, Interesting)
They ought to drop their prices to remain competitive. If the price of education is more than a decade or two of salary for most people, people will not make that decision. Colleges are fat hogs feeding on money, and a lot of the costs could be eliminated.
As state subsidies decline, tuition goes way up (Score:1)
In today's dollars, tuition from my public-university alma mater is about twice what it was when I graduated.
Why the the tuition increase? The state forgot that heavy public subsidies for undergraduate education are good for the economy.
Re: (Score:1)
I hesitate to generalize, but in several cases I saw that states didn't reduce their support, rather their support became a smaller and smaller part of the university's budget (growth didn't keep pace as the university 'diversified income streams').
Re: (Score:2)
> states didn't reduce their support, rather their support became a smaller and smaller part of the university's budget
Well, it depends on how you track spending over time and how you adjust for inflation. In many states, state spending on higher education is either down or flat once you adjust for inflation. And costs, particularly health insurance, have risen much faster than inflation, so even maintaining services at the same level means you'll have to find more money elsewhere (usually tuition and fees). Public institutions are increasingly called to do things outside of teaching classes in their states, such as extensi
Re: As state subsidies decline, tuition goes way u (Score:1)
What's the private colleges' excuse?
Re: (Score:2)
> What's the private colleges' excuse
The majority of costs for colleges / universities are personnel costs. Health insurance costs have gone through the roof. Students' expectations for amenities continues to rise, and the vote with their feet. Frankly, most students are not that cost sensitive and will often pick a more expensive place with more amenities than a slightly cheaper place with less.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah right. The universities will work together to raise rates even more so they keep or better the level of income with even fewer students paying.
Re: (Score:2)
This is basic economics, they are pricing out students. Lower prices = more demand and higher prices = less demand. This is a demand problem people are being priced out. Education is pricing out students. Students also have choices, they can go to community colleges and then go to university.
Re:Maybe .... (Score:2)
"Colleges are fat hogs feeding on money, and a lot of the costs could be eliminated."
Just like many parts of the Government.....
Fiction meets reality (Score:5, Insightful)
For years, people have been told a story. To get a good job, you need a diploma. NOT an education, just a diploma.
Some students, who loved to learn, worked really hard to train their minds, and as a bonus, got a diploma.
Others slouched through college, putting in minimal effort, socializing, binge drinking and cheating on exams to barely graduate and get what they believed would be the key to success, a diploma.
For the excellent, well trained minds, the diploma was nearly useless, their trained minds, knowledge and accomplishments guaranteed success.
For the slouchers, the diploma was totally useless, their laziness and lack of motivation guaranteed failure.
Re:Fiction meets reality (Score:4, Insightful)
You have tremendously oversimplified the issue.
Among other issues, you have ignored the gifted students. Many of them were used to coasting through high school classes. Some of them continued to do it in college.
The most brilliant slouched through college with minimal effort and came out with good grades. They never needed the diploma.
Then there were the ones that were better than their tiny high school, but not geniuses. Some of them slouched through and failed their first semester. Some of them turned it around and became hard workers, some quit, some turned into slouchers and barely got the diploma. Some of the quitters founded startups and became rich. Others screwed up their life.
Most of the hard workers were never the geniuses. A lot of school has always been about hard work. That is the secret to getting an A. Brains helps, but hard work is more important for most of us.
The secret to getting an A (Score:1)
> That is the secret to getting an A. Brains helps, but hard work is more important for most of us.
That's true if you are taking classes that aren't way too easy for you. But stick a smart/gifted-and-talented high school student in a non-advanced class, and he'll get the maximum grade without much work as long as he doesn't totally blow it off from boredom.
Of course, in that scenario, the A isn't worth much.
To get an A that really means something, the class needs to be challenging enough that a normal, don't-strain-yourself level of work plus whatever brains and experience you have coming into the class
The "need a degree" story was true for a long time (Score:1)
> To get a good job, you need a diploma [I assume you mean college degree, not just high school diploma]
For much of the last third of the 1900s and the early part of this century, you did "need a degree" to be promoted past a certain level, even if it meant otherwise-qualified applicants wouldn't even be looked at.
There's less of that now: Wise companies have realized that "a degree or equivalent experience" is better for recruitment than "must have a degree."
Re: (Score:2)
A tired trope.
A college degree never promised victory. It was just the entry ticket to the race.
Exceptions always existed: some had real talent, and some were born to privilege.
You've been reading too much propaganda (Score:2)
There is a ton of anti-intellectualism propaganda out there right now and you have willingly or unwittingly soaked some of it up.
No, you me and everyone here was told to go get an education not a diploma. That's what the phrase is. Get an education. That's why you used that phrase first. It was the first phrase that came to your mind. Not get a diploma but get an education.
So stop and think for a bit here. Really seriously. No jokes no nothing no laughs just stop.
Why did we start sending kids to
Their math seems off (Score:2)
2006 is the Freshmen college class. 2008 isn't for 2 more years.
The decline started before the crash
Expensive (Score:1)
2008 is when the country collectively figured out that kids are really expensive and that cats, dogs, and plants are cheaper.
Luckily (Score:1)
A whole bunch of opportunities have recently opened up to US citizens for picking lettuce.
Re: Luckily (Score:1)
You say that as if picking lettuce is a bad thing. Or perhaps you mean it's beneath the dignity of free citizens to perform menial labor. And if it weren't for that pesky 13th Amendment....
Or am I misunderstanding your motivations?
Re: (Score:1)
I assume he meant it's beneath the dignity of free citizens to perform labor and be paid less than they think their time, energy, and discomfort is worth.
In other words, if there's a lettuce-picking job that pays me $200,000 for 2000 hours of work (that is, about a year at 40 hours/week with 2 weeks off), sign me up. But at minimum wage, or even the wage I'm getting from my current job, I'll pass.
Re: (Score:2)
Not at all. Free citizens picking lettuce on a corporate-owned ranch is the American Dream!
It's better than medieval serfdom was because you're FREE!!! You could even prove it by wearing a giant bald eagle and flag T-shirt while you work!!!
Re: (Score:2)
What does this agriculture career pay and what are my health insurance benefits?
Re: (Score:1)
If Americans refuse to work for "non-American wages," (officially, minimum wage, unofficially, probably far less) someone will invent a cheap-enough lettuce-picking robot and then those jobs will be gone.
Substitute just about any job where people aren't willing to do the work for the wages that make it cost-effective for "lettuce picking jobs."
Re: (Score:2)
Eventually tech will catch up and do so, but until then, immigrants are going to be doing it at low wages. Ag has come a long way, but I believe tomatoes are still hand picked (for slicing, I think the sauce ones are machine), and most "tender" crops like raspberries and even blackberries. I think broccoli and probably cauliflower are also hand done since you slice near the ground.
That's okay (Score:2)
All those kids who didn't get born can just be plumbers.
America is closing up business (Score:2)
Apparently we don't like immigrants or money.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
"Why would I pay you to indoctrinate me to hate my country..."
When you're so clearly getting that indoctrination for free?
Re: (Score:3)
Note this was mostly a simple demographic observation being written about, *not* about relative popularity of university among the populace.
It's not that there are the same number of high school students but fewer want university, it's just that not nearly as many people were born.
Since the housing crash, domestic stability has eluded so much of the population that you would count on to have children.
So particularly the cost management is certainly something to watch, but your deeper problem is just that so
Re: (Score:3)
Clearly you didn't read the article. I'll share with you quote from it:
"As New America’s Kevin Carey has noted, the demographic cliff risks accelerating the “geographic consolidation that is already upending American politics” as college-educated Democrats congregate in cities and coastal areas in which campuses will thrive — while people in rural towns, less likely to have degrees, might bear the brunt of closures."
Re: (Score:2)
> trade schools have a waitlist and their graduates are making great money
Nope. Sorry. At least around here, trade schools have plenty of openings. You can Sign Up to Start Right Now!
And trade schools are required to post the median salaries of their recent graduates in all of the trades. Pretty much all of the major trades - including plumbing - have starting salaries that would put a family of 4 right near the federal poverty level for this area.
Re: (Score:2)
Our local trade school has a 2 year waiting list for the welding program - that's how many people want in.