Anonymous wrote:I think the college landscape will change quite a bit in the years to come. Demographics will drive a few things. I suspect quite a few smaller liberal arts colleges will close their doors. And there will be some consolidation in state school systems.
The cost of private college has already reached the point of absurdity. A 6th grader today is looking at more than $500,000. Two kids will be a million plus to go to school. That is not happening for MC and UMC families. Forget Colby or Brown. The real competition will be for spots at the state flagship schools. That is where talent will flee. It's already happening today.
The perception of Ivy League schools will broadly continue to decline. They are too invested in rich and DEI students. Meanwhile, the academic quality of public school students will continue to rise. A Harvard degree in 2034 will not be regarded the same as a Harvard degree was in say 2004. Some schools, however, like MIT and a few of the other elite non-Ivies will of course remain extremely competitive and desirable. They have the endowments to make admissions possible for everyone qualified. And they are more invested in talent rather than legacy, wealth, and connections, which is what often taints the Ivy schools.
Fewer students will choose 4 year colleges all together. I suspect there will be more interest in apprenticeships and trade schools. And just certification programs, articulately for things like coding.
But there is a population drop-off cliff that those kids will benefit from...along our kids this year that have the highest number of applicants to date everywhere.
Thanks to lower birthrates during the Great Recession, the college-age population will shrink beginning in 2025.
College officials call this demographic phenomenon the "enrollment cliff."
The effects will vary based on geographic region and institutional type.
Colleges are already making adjustments to become more competitive and attract new student populations.
During that time of economic stress and uncertainty, notes Carleton College economist Nathan Grawe, people were having fewer children. The number of kids born between 2008 and 2011 plummeted dramatically.
The decline in students applying to colleges will be dramatic.
|
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}