This is an interesting article on why some LACs are struggling with enrollment, most LACs lag R1s on yield
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
NP. Northeastern still doesn't belong on this list. You must be pretty naive if you fall for its admission games. |
Anonymous
|
I feel like outside of a few with high brand names and a lot of history (like Williams, Wellesley etc.), LACs are reallly going to lose demand over the next decade.
I'm seeing a real backlash against them at our HS, outside of two groups: 1) kids who consider themselves "really quirky", sometimes neurodiverse, theater kids, chorus singers, queer community, very introverted who want a "safe bubble" to learn in. 2) D3 jocks who are not recruited to D1, and want to play their sport, many of these are socially the opposite of group #1. It's interesting. |
Anonymous
Many LACs are "mediocre" while many flagship state universities are excellent. The very tippety top of LACs seem to be doing just fine, as illustrated on this thread, but the rest are starting to struggle to recruit and admit students and it's absolutely worthwhile discussing why. And I do think it's a combination of the following reasons: 1. enrollment cliff due to declining college age cohort sizes 2. wokification of private college culture and curriculums turning off conservative and centrist students, especially boys, who see the flagships as more apolitical and enjoyable. 3. Massive tuition disparity between expensive private colleges and flagships making people question the ROI. Even out of state flagships tend to be 2/3s the cost of a private LAC. Not every LAC is going to be affected equally. But many are. |
Anonymous
Some valid points. The wokification comment is a bit foolish but the left did over rotate hard. The right has now done the same and will be paying the price in the fall. Kids are influenced by social media which is playing up the party culture of Southern schools and driving their popularity among average kids. I come from a UMC area and nobody from our area goes "south" except for kids who weren't ever in the running for a selective school. There is an exception now and then but there is no move South. Nobody is avoiding Bucknell, HWS, and St. Lawrence because they are "woke". Your cost comment is likely incorrect for all except the very top SLACs, with merit I'd expect that most are about equal to OOS flagships in many states (cheaper and more expensive for others). I would be as concerned about non-selective publics, the schools that most kids today attend. They are suffering as bad a typical SLACs but nobody talks about them. As they get hit it might actually help improve the stats for the relatively non-selective R1s and R2s but it isn't because those schools are becoming more attractive, they'll just be standing. Small less selective schools in general are going to struggle, not just SLACs. Wealthy, prestigious schools are going to thrive no matter what. |
Anonymous
|
Add some others -
1. Too small 2. Doesn't have name recognition 3. Remote Locations My '26 DD - who had no interest in the rah rah state flagship experience - also had no interest in a SLAC. They are a "normie" but their concerns were: 1. Social divide between athletes and the quirky students - she wasn't going to be an athlete and was worried that would limit her friend group especially if athletes mainly stick to other athletes. 2. She wanted something a larger than her high school. 3. She wanted a cute town that was within walkable distance. 4. She felt the SLACs just didn't have the name recognition She is going to a mid-sized university in the fall. I do think the mid-sized schools will be getting more students that are like my daughter. I see some of the SLACs that would probably be put in the struggling category and I am seeing a lot more "diner goth" type students than at other schools. The more "diner goth" type students, the more "normal" type students wouldn't find that school to be a good social fit and the death spiral continues. |
Anonymous
Sounds like she’d like a lot of LACs if she toured. |
Anonymous
This was not an issue for my DS coming from a large public HS. I believe the obvious is true, that kids are not as interested in being educated at a small school in a remote setting, as someone mentioned, my DS also wanted a school larger than his HS, even 5000 to 6000 students was too small for him. I think maybe one other person mentioned it, but outside the top SLACs, it seems like nearly all are PWIs, with some having around 70% white enrollment or higher. With the country becoming more and more diverse, these schools have a long term problem if they don’t appeal to African Americans and POC. |
Anonymous
OMG that's what's been so off-putting for us when touring or going to admitted days at so many LACs. It's the very noticeable diner-goth aesthetic that was weirding my kid out at Wes, Vassar, Amherst, Claremont colleges, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Smith etc. Medium schools like Northwestern, Tufts, WashU had a better mix of normies from my kid's perspective. +1 |
Anonymous
I have been on campus at six of the seven schools in the past two years and your "dine-goth" comment is wildly incorrect. Most likely you haven't visited any of these schools. The kids who dress in this manner just aren't a significant part of the population at any them, no more than you would see at any large HS or public college. In most cases there are far fewer. If you don't want to attend a SLAC, don't but stop just making crap up. |
Anonymous
We’re talking about the same Claremont colleges where most students wear clothes for the sun if they aren’t in a suit? |
Anonymous
You are clearly resistant to the notion of cultural changes and cultural divides playing a role in what people look for in colleges and why many are turning their backs to LACs in favor of different kinds of colleges. I am in the Baltimore suburbs, which is hardly MAGA territory, and in the private school world where fully pay is more typical tha not, there's been a significant shift towards favoring both southern LACs and flagships over northern ones, with the flagships winning out. And this is the same cohort of kids who in my day would have never looked at public schools outside UVA or Michigan or Chapel Hill, and flocked north for liberal arts colleges. There are absolutely conservative and centrist and even apolitical lean Democrat students, which is typical of most of the kids around me. The flag waving queer supporting allies are a minority. The latter is the one that embraces the liberal LAC culture, not only for the bubble environment, but because curriculum, administration and faculty are strongly attuned to their ideological beliefs. Like most people who embrace the preacher, your particular choir doesn't realize how off putting the same can be to other students. Add to it the high costs of attending a LAC sans merit or scholarships, it's hard to justify spending the money at a place you don't feel welcome at. And one can also question the seriousness of the scholarship and teaching at many LACs these days. |
Anonymous
Here’s an easy question that requires one link. Send a singe decisions insta page where this is easy to see! |
Anonymous
Kids don’t want to go to a liberal arts college, because they’re off put by gay people existing? You think the next generation is deeply homophobic? That seems a bit…depressing for our future. |
Anonymous
|
Anonymous
yes, lots of pierced septums and blue hair at pitzer, lots of goth girls at scripps, mix of all types at pomona |