Is college admissions going to be way easier for kids 5th/6th grade and under?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools will go under between now and then.

This is what many are predicting.

But they will all be at the very bottom. There will be exactly the same amount of competitiveness at the top -- probably even more. Top in-state schools in particular.

There may be some relaxation at what is now the mid-level privates as they get more desperate for full pays, and some increased merit aid at the schools slightly above them. That's the best you can hope for IMHO. It will not be a return to 1966 admission rates.

Not necessarily. Two examples of colleges struggling financially that are not at the very bottom: Earlham and Beloit, 80 and 82 respectively on USNews natl liberal arts list.

Earlham isn't really struggling financially. They just had very conservative advisory board members who raised the alarm about some operating budgets that were drifting up. But they have a 400 million dollar endowment. They --like Middlebury--just need to tighten their belts a bit. These are not likely the colleges that will close.
Beloit's endowment however is about 1/3 of the size of Earlham's--and is in a little tighter situation. But it's unlikely they would close either. There are hundreds of tiny colleges that aren't on the Princeton Review/US News lists--those are the ones that are in most danger.

Earlham is only a little over 1,000 students. That size is problematic these days because it doesn't offer enough depth or breadth in degree programs and the cost structure isn't spread out over enough students.

I don't know. That just means that they have a 400 million endowment for a 1000 student body--which gives them an excellent per capita rate. (I don't have any special tie to Earlham--just pay attention to higher ed for my work).
Also, what the revised Moody's report on colleges overall suggests is that they are more resilient, innovative and flexible than they were worried about. Schools are using on-line resources, experiential programs etc. to innovate-- and they have revenue sources beyond tuition. It might (or might not) turn out that these very small schools might be nimble in way larger ones are not. It will be interesting to see. College-age demographics are going down but the need and desire for lifelong learning is going up and the role of the college in the community is expanding as retirees are moving into college towns, schools are offering alumni educational trips and other resources. Who knows how it will evolve, but the idea that a whole bunch of 100+ year old institutions closing doesn't seem to be happening as initially warned.