College Enrollment Drops, NYT article

[Langue_doc]

Here is the link to the article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/us/college-enrollment.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Education

[Puget]

What struck me about this article was that, although they mention demographic change, they make no attempt to report if enrollments have dropped beyond what is expected with the drop in traditional college-age population. Nor do they really talk about the fact that college attendance, especially at community colleges (which had the largest drop) is always counter-cyclical (goes down when jobs are plentiful as they are right now). Instead, they jump right to quoting speculation that it is about students becoming skeptical of the value of college. Maybe that does play a role, but I saw zero data in this article to that effect.

[dismalist]

Certainly until Covid, the share of high school graduates going to college hasn't budged in 10 years, at about 66%.

[My gut feeling is that that number is far higher than it need be, but never mind.]

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cpa

There is no news.

[marshwiggle]

The real news:
College students predicted to fall by more than 15% after the year 2025

Nathan Grawe, an economist at Carleton College in Minnesota, predicts that the college-going population will drop by 15 percent between 2025 and 2029 and continue to decline by another percentage point or two thereafter.

The Northeast, where a disproportionate share of the nation's colleges and universities are located, is expected to be the hardest hit. By contrast, mountain states where there are fewer students and fewer colleges, such as Utah and Montana, may see slight increases in student demand.