Anonymous wrote:The number of potential students is DECREASING so the number of applications increasing means what exactly?
There are still only so many students.
If they each apply to 15-20 schools, then applications would “increase” at some schools.
This is true. Applications are "up" because of test optional and the common app, which makes it easy to apply to a lot of schools. 30 years ago people would apply to five schools. Now it's very common to apply to 20 schools. Thus, applications are up nearly everywhere.
But the number of up and coming 18 year olds in the US is decreasing. Birth rates fell off the cliff in 2008. So it's rapidly becoming a much smaller base of applicants. And outside of the top 200 or so, colleges are going to have a hard time. Would expect a lot of consolidation in the public college system. And I suspect a lot of liberal arts colleges will close their doors over the next twenty years.
It is incredibly important for colleges to become a "hot" school now. This generation seems to prefer bigger universities. The state flagships seem to be doing well. Outside of the usual suspects, I see a lot of interest in Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Utah, Oregon, as well as the more tech oriented public schools like Purdue and Georgia Tech, which are not exactly up and coming schools. But there is huge demand in that space as anyone with a kid interested in engineering or computer science learns very quickly. Also the big southern schools - Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Auburn, Clemson. Again, not up and coming schools, but a lot more interest in recent years.