State report says 7 Virginia universities should be monitored as enrollment cliff approaches

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not a sad development. I mean, what do Americans expect? There are way too many colleges in the US that aren't doing well, and were never good in the first place. Surely you don't want your kid going there. If you have a student who can't get into a decent college, you need to have them attend community college, then transfer to a better university.

I agree with this, and I'll take it a step further - there are too many people in colleges. We've promulgated the "college for all" mantra, and it's done many kids a disservice, leaving them saddled with student loan debt after attending bottom of the barrel schools, and being no more employable after graduation (if they do graduate) than they would have been otherwise. Plus, now employers expect that applicants will be "college graduates" for all sorts of posts where it isn't at all necessary.

Enterprise car rental, for example, brags that they are the largest hirer of college graduates each year. You don’t need a college degree to run a car rental desk at an airport.

You need a degree to get promoted. Do you really want to live in a society where less people are educated?

[Anonymous]

I think it would be nice if VA made community college free like some other states. A tiny bit off topic, but really ... something to consider.

My child probably could have gone the community college route. We took a leap of faith and sent her to a 4 year school that caters to her specific needs and has the programs she wants. We luckily had that luxury. Many families do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not a sad development. I mean, what do Americans expect? There are way too many colleges in the US that aren't doing well, and were never good in the first place. Surely you don't want your kid going there. If you have a student who can't get into a decent college, you need to have them attend community college, then transfer to a better university.

I agree with this, and I'll take it a step further - there are too many people in colleges. We've promulgated the "college for all" mantra, and it's done many kids a disservice, leaving them saddled with student loan debt after attending bottom of the barrel schools, and being no more employable after graduation (if they do graduate) than they would have been otherwise. Plus, now employers expect that applicants will be "college graduates" for all sorts of posts where it isn't at all necessary.

Enterprise car rental, for example, brags that they are the largest hirer of college graduates each year. You don’t need a college degree to run a car rental desk at an airport.

You need a degree to get promoted. Do you really want to live in a society where less people are educated?

+1
My husband worked with a bunch of guys a while back at a gov't contractor who did NOT have college diplomas. They would apply to other jobs and while they had years of experience, people wouldn't even look at the resume because they didn't have a degree.

My husband didn't want that to happen and worked his butt off part time while working full time to get an engineering degree.

[Anonymous]

Some of you are positive gleeful that smaller and more affordable (relatively speaking) colleges are having problems.

And it's super weird. Not to mention ugly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of you are positive gleeful that smaller and more affordable (relatively speaking) colleges are having problems.

And it's super weird. Not to mention ugly.

+1 It’s shocking this thread went from being gleeful that some colleges might close to saying large groups of students shouldn’t go to college at all. Folks, other kids deserve college too. Get a grip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not a sad development. I mean, what do Americans expect? There are way too many colleges in the US that aren't doing well, and were never good in the first place. Surely you don't want your kid going there. If you have a student who can't get into a decent college, you need to have them attend community college, then transfer to a better university.

I agree with this, and I'll take it a step further - there are too many people in colleges. We've promulgated the "college for all" mantra, and it's done many kids a disservice, leaving them saddled with student loan debt after attending bottom of the barrel schools, and being no more employable after graduation (if they do graduate) than they would have been otherwise. Plus, now employers expect that applicants will be "college graduates" for all sorts of posts where it isn't at all necessary.

Enterprise car rental, for example, brags that they are the largest hirer of college graduates each year. You don’t need a college degree to run a car rental desk at an airport.

You need a degree to get promoted. Do you really want to live in a society where less people are educated?

But maybe you shouldn't need a degree to get promoted. These days it often seems in white collar careers you now need a masters to get promoted, because an undergraduate degree is simply the barrier to entry. Maybe we need to change the things employers use as credentials to something that is much cheaper.

It's not like people are sending their kids to college for the mind broadening effects, and it's not like many colleges are actually providing those, either. If colleges are just white collar trade schools, maybe we should have those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not a sad development. I mean, what do Americans expect? There are way too many colleges in the US that aren't doing well, and were never good in the first place. Surely you don't want your kid going there. If you have a student who can't get into a decent college, you need to have them attend community college, then transfer to a better university.

I agree with this, and I'll take it a step further - there are too many people in colleges. We've promulgated the "college for all" mantra, and it's done many kids a disservice, leaving them saddled with student loan debt after attending bottom of the barrel schools, and being no more employable after graduation (if they do graduate) than they would have been otherwise. Plus, now employers expect that applicants will be "college graduates" for all sorts of posts where it isn't at all necessary.

Enterprise car rental, for example, brags that they are the largest hirer of college graduates each year. You don’t need a college degree to run a car rental desk at an airport.

You need a degree to get promoted. Do you really want to live in a society where less people are educated?

I would like to live in a society where people, educated or not, understand the difference between "less" and "fewer."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not a sad development. I mean, what do Americans expect? There are way too many colleges in the US that aren't doing well, and were never good in the first place. Surely you don't want your kid going there. If you have a student who can't get into a decent college, you need to have them attend community college, then transfer to a better university.

I agree with this, and I'll take it a step further - there are too many people in colleges. We've promulgated the "college for all" mantra, and it's done many kids a disservice, leaving them saddled with student loan debt after attending bottom of the barrel schools, and being no more employable after graduation (if they do graduate) than they would have been otherwise. Plus, now employers expect that applicants will be "college graduates" for all sorts of posts where it isn't at all necessary.

Enterprise car rental, for example, brags that they are the largest hirer of college graduates each year. You don’t need a college degree to run a car rental desk at an airport.

You need a degree to get promoted. Do you really want to live in a society where less people are educated?

I would like to live in a world without credential inflation, but that's just me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you are positive gleeful that smaller and more affordable (relatively speaking) colleges are having problems.

And it's super weird. Not to mention ugly.

+1 It’s shocking this thread went from being gleeful that some colleges might close to saying large groups of students shouldn’t go to college at all. Folks, other kids deserve college too. Get a grip.

That is categorically untrue. No one is entitled or deserves to go to college. And it's counterproductive for many kids these days, when with delayed entry into the workforce, high tuition costs and student loans.

I recognize this is unlikely to change, because, as a PP pointed out, employers require college degrees for all sorts of jobs where they aren't necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not a sad development. I mean, what do Americans expect? There are way too many colleges in the US that aren't doing well, and were never good in the first place. Surely you don't want your kid going there. If you have a student who can't get into a decent college, you need to have them attend community college, then transfer to a better university.

I agree with this, and I'll take it a step further - there are too many people in colleges. We've promulgated the "college for all" mantra, and it's done many kids a disservice, leaving them saddled with student loan debt after attending bottom of the barrel schools, and being no more employable after graduation (if they do graduate) than they would have been otherwise. Plus, now employers expect that applicants will be "college graduates" for all sorts of posts where it isn't at all necessary.

Would you be happy if your kid didn’t go to college?

In my specific situation, no, but that's because she is a very smart and capable kid - honors, AP and IB courses, high ACT scores, etc. In any era, she's a kid who should go to college.

If she were a mediocre student, I'd encourage her to pursue a different career path - learn a trade, for example.

But, your attitude is a perfect example of what I'm talking about - the (mis)perception that no kid can be happy or successful without going to college. This promulgates exactly what is happening here - failing, expensive schools that don't alter kids' lives at all, except to saddle them with debt to start their lives.

Ah, so your kid is special and should go to college but other kids should not.

Not special in the sense that she deserves it and other don't, no. She's just in the academic cohort that is and always has been college bound. There are lots of kids just like her. Just as there are lots of C- high school graduates who are ill-served by spending 4 years and tens of thousands of dollars becoming C- college graduates who then have significant debt and get jobs that they could have gotten 4 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not a sad development. I mean, what do Americans expect? There are way too many colleges in the US that aren't doing well, and were never good in the first place. Surely you don't want your kid going there. If you have a student who can't get into a decent college, you need to have them attend community college, then transfer to a better university.

I agree with this, and I'll take it a step further - there are too many people in colleges. We've promulgated the "college for all" mantra, and it's done many kids a disservice, leaving them saddled with student loan debt after attending bottom of the barrel schools, and being no more employable after graduation (if they do graduate) than they would have been otherwise. Plus, now employers expect that applicants will be "college graduates" for all sorts of posts where it isn't at all necessary.

Enterprise car rental, for example, brags that they are the largest hirer of college graduates each year. You don’t need a college degree to run a car rental desk at an airport.

You need a degree to get promoted. Do you really want to live in a society where less people are educated?

But maybe you shouldn't need a degree to get promoted. These days it often seems in white collar careers you now need a masters to get promoted, because an undergraduate degree is simply the barrier to entry. Maybe we need to change the things employers use as credentials to something that is much cheaper.

It's not like people are sending their kids to college for the mind broadening effects, and it's not like many colleges are actually providing those, either. If colleges are just white collar trade schools, maybe we should have those.

Odd take. Mind broadening is the most important part of college and it seems like most people on this thread missed that based on the ignorant posts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you are positive gleeful that smaller and more affordable (relatively speaking) colleges are having problems.

And it's super weird. Not to mention ugly.

+1 It’s shocking this thread went from being gleeful that some colleges might close to saying large groups of students shouldn’t go to college at all. Folks, other kids deserve college too. Get a grip.

College is not a right. If you didn't do the work in k-12, for whatever reason, you're not automatically entitled to a 4 year college. A GED and community college is an established path that can lead you to a bachelor's degree. Many people already choose that path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not a sad development. I mean, what do Americans expect? There are way too many colleges in the US that aren't doing well, and were never good in the first place. Surely you don't want your kid going there. If you have a student who can't get into a decent college, you need to have them attend community college, then transfer to a better university.

I agree with this, and I'll take it a step further - there are too many people in colleges. We've promulgated the "college for all" mantra, and it's done many kids a disservice, leaving them saddled with student loan debt after attending bottom of the barrel schools, and being no more employable after graduation (if they do graduate) than they would have been otherwise. Plus, now employers expect that applicants will be "college graduates" for all sorts of posts where it isn't at all necessary.

Enterprise car rental, for example, brags that they are the largest hirer of college graduates each year. You don’t need a college degree to run a car rental desk at an airport.

You need a degree to get promoted. Do you really want to live in a society where less people are educated?

I would like to live in a society where people, educated or not, understand the difference between "less" and "fewer."

Do you know how "much" times I heard this? Don't be a pre-Madonna(that one - the material girl), irregardless of your education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you are positive gleeful that smaller and more affordable (relatively speaking) colleges are having problems.

And it's super weird. Not to mention ugly.

+1 It’s shocking this thread went from being gleeful that some colleges might close to saying large groups of students shouldn’t go to college at all. Folks, other kids deserve college too. Get a grip.

College is not a right. If you didn't do the work in k-12, for whatever reason, you're not automatically entitled to a 4 year college. A GED and community college is an established path that can lead you to a bachelor's degree. Many people already choose that path.

Why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you are positive gleeful that smaller and more affordable (relatively speaking) colleges are having problems.

And it's super weird. Not to mention ugly.

+1 It’s shocking this thread went from being gleeful that some colleges might close to saying large groups of students shouldn’t go to college at all. Folks, other kids deserve college too. Get a grip.

College is not a right. If you didn't do the work in k-12, for whatever reason, you're not automatically entitled to a 4 year college. A GED and community college is an established path that can lead you to a bachelor's degree. Many people already choose that path.

Why not?

NP-How bout you tell everyone why it should be a right first.