From the Boston Herald:
Read further it talks about how “school attended” was not high on the list for reasons applicants were hired.
Knowledge and application was though.
The number of americans enrolled in colleges does not provide too much information. A more relevant stat is the percentage of HS graduates enrolled in colleges.
Or a deeper analysis which breaks out percentage of HS grads going straight to the military (a non-trivial percentage of them end up getting a four year degree), doing a gap year and THEN college, etc.
Articles like this reinforce the importance of developing analytical skills. Whether in college or elsewhere. This really tells you nothing useful.
Point in posting???
When the economy is good, college attendance generally goes down. When the economy is bad, people go to school, instead.
Article is true. I live in an area with many excellent colleges, universities, a top community college and several other community colleges in driving distance. Cost is a huge deciding factor in student’s choices as people have become well aware of the crippling student debt graduates have taken on. I am watching top, outstanding, talented students choose schools offering the most assistance or attending an affordable college over a higher ranked one. Consumers have also become very aware that no longer being educated for the sake of being well educated has a payoff. Many really smart, educated 20 and 30 somethings are either unemployed or underemployed. The jig is up. I’m wondering when the next wave of college closures will come.
Empire, the premise of this article is not that students are choosing affordable colleges over unaffordable. The premise is that students are rejecting college entirely which is a conclusion not borne out by the facts at hand (or by your post).
I think this article focuses too much on one reason. I think there are many reasons college enrollments are decreasing. First there are fewer HS graduates. There are regions of the country more affected by this than others. The populations in the NE and midwest are decreasing while the south and west seem to be increasing. Second is the cost of attending combined with less disposable income. Costs for things such as healthcare have also gone up dramatically as well leaving many families with less money to spend while the cost of education has risen much faster than incomes. Third, ironically, is an improving economy. During the last recession many people who were without work sought to improve their education in hopes of getting better jobs. There seems to be a demand for trade workers as many of those we have are reaching retirement age. People who are working will be less interested in continuing their education. Schools with social unrest seem to be having specific issues related to that (ie. U of Missouri). There is also the fact that financial aid has not kept up with tuition. The Pell grant has been the same for at least the last 8 years that I’m aware of while costs have increased by 20% or more. If I though about more I’m sure I could come up with more reasons.
Seems hard to believe when we have the Overenrolled College thread here talking about not enough room in the dorms! I know my DD is experiencing the biggest freshman class at her school in the last 30 years. Lounges have been turned into 6 man rooms.
@seeksknowledge: There’s a flight to qualify and urbaness.
Many flagships and schools in the top 50 are struggling with overenrollment.
Schools most people have never heard of, small rural schools, and regionals who don’t stand out in any way are struggling to enroll enough students.
Thread title and OP article is a bit ironic considering one recurring argument for spiking tuition rates over the last 2 decades in several publications such as the Chronicle was the “keeping up with the joneses” effect with the most elite private colleges’ sticker prices.
Argument essentially was that if the sticker price was set too low in relation to one’s aspirational peers(especially the Ivies/peer elites), then many prospective upper/UMC students/parents may wonder whether there was something wrong or “inferior” about the college because its sticker price was “too low” and thus, a perceived indicator of “inferior” quality.
@blossom -
The number of students deferring college by serving in the military may be a non-trivial amount, but that total is offset by a similar number of who finish their service and enter then college. It is amusing that the people that talk the most about “critical thinking” are themselves unwilling to think critically.
@proftodad -
That is an irrelevant statistic to the colleges that are forced to close or merge with other institutions because of a lack of students. From the article:
Finally some critical thinking.
Story in today’s StarTribune (Minneapolis) says Minnesota’s private colleges are struggling to cope with sticker schock as full-price COA now exceeds $50K or even $60K… The colleges continue to spread the gospel that most students don’t actually pay that much after merit and need-based FA, but according to the story the trend is that growing numbers of families won’t even consider private colleges with the sticker price that high. And even among those who understand how the pricing actually works, many express bafflement that the colleges would list such a high sticker price then offer steep discounts on a case-by-case basis, rather than using a more transparent pricing policy. One school bucking the trend is Concordia University in Saint Paul, which recently slashed tuition by 1/3 and more than made up for the revenue loss by spending less on FA while attracting a larger enrollment.
No hard data on applications or enrollment, however.
http://www.startribune.com/sticker-shock-private-colleges-in-minnesota-near-a-milestone/442646383/
Raising tuition and increasing discounts I never thought was never a sustainable business model. Along with all the other influences on enrollment there will be fallout no doubt especially for the small colleges. The big unis will just continue to accept and increase enrollment until the beds are over flowing.
Agree with @cobrat . It seems like college tuition is a Veblen good. A good for which demand increases as the price increases, because of its exclusive nature and appeal as a status symbol.
Only if you are a true Tiffany brand. Rest just seen as over-priced.
The drop in US students is somewhat offset by the rise in foreign full pay students particularly from China. With a population of 1.5 billion there are more than enough school leavers willing and able to pay the sticker price. As Barrons says above, if you have brand you are minted.
And they have $$, a never saw so many Mazarattis and Ferarris in one small place until I was at Michigan State a couple years ago for a lacrosse game.
It’s not only international students. At Westchester U in PA earlier in this decade, I saw on two separate occasions different 18-ish looking students driving Lamborghinis.
Both were definitely “real murikans” by their loud shoutouts to students/random pedestrians like yours truly.