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Is this really surprising? Let's just look at US demographics right now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#/media/File:USA_Popula

Is this really surprising? Let's just look at US demographics right now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#/media/File:USA_Population_Pyramid.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_Sta... Looking at the chart, I'd expect to have seen a drop in enrollments among those younger than early to mid 20's over the last few years. 6% easily seems en par with the demographics shift. If that reasoning is correct, we'll see a slight recovery or stabilization peaking in about 5 years or so and then steady declines until who knows when. Colleges all over the nation will be competing for students for the at least the next 2 decades. Prices will drop, and offerings will probably be more tailored to offer better value, and that may improve/stabilize enrollment rates somewhat, but the overall trend will be down.

kkylin 3y ago
I work at a large state university in the US, and none of this is a surprise. It is in part general population trends, in part a significant drop in birthrates around the 2008 recession. COVID didn't help -- the number of foreign students paying out-of-state tuition (which subsidizes everyone else to some extent) also dropped. These trends do not hit all universities and colleges evenly however.
mertd 3y ago
Population pyramid is the new population density meme. https://xkcd.com/1138/ https://xkcd.com/1138/
- whearyou 3y ago
  Now I know the strategy for our next board meeting…
bsder 3y ago
When I taught in the Cal State system, almost 1/3 of my CS class were professionals looking to upgrade their situation. I wonder if that group has swung some of the stats.
nimbius 3y ago
Joe Biden basically spearheaded the US ability to turn student lending into a perpetual organ grinder of human misery in 1976. Did US colleges think people wouldn't wise up to the nightmare of un-dischargeable debt and the explosion of papermill colleges from Section 439 after fifty years? https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-made-it-harder-to-discharge-student-debt-through-bankruptcy-2022-5?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-made-it-harder-to-disc... it will likely take another fifty years to rebuild the confidence of parents (millennials who experienced this predatory lending firsthand) as well as kids (who watched their parents struggle under predatory lending) to re-enter higher education and this couldnt come at a more inconvenient time as China is set to eclipse the US as a superpower.
- zingelshuher 3y ago
  More likely the system will collapse into socialism. Biden/dems pack US with migrants for a reason, exactly this.

kkylin 3y ago

I work at a large state university in the US, and none of this is a surprise. It is in part general population trends, in part a significant drop in birthrates around the 2008 recession. COVID didn't help -- the number of foreign students paying out-of-state tuition (which subsidizes everyone else to some extent) also dropped. These trends do not hit all universities and colleges evenly however.

mertd 3y ago

Population pyramid is the new population density meme. https://xkcd.com/1138/ https://xkcd.com/1138/

whearyou 3y ago
Now I know the strategy for our next board meeting…

bsder 3y ago

When I taught in the Cal State system, almost 1/3 of my CS class were professionals looking to upgrade their situation. I wonder if that group has swung some of the stats.

nimbius 3y ago

Joe Biden basically spearheaded the US ability to turn student lending into a perpetual organ grinder of human misery in 1976. Did US colleges think people wouldn't wise up to the nightmare of un-dischargeable debt and the explosion of papermill colleges from Section 439 after fifty years? https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-made-it-harder-to-discharge-student-debt-through-bankruptcy-2022-5?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-made-it-harder-to-disc... it will likely take another fifty years to rebuild the confidence of parents (millennials who experienced this predatory lending firsthand) as well as kids (who watched their parents struggle under predatory lending) to re-enter higher education and this couldnt come at a more inconvenient time as China is set to eclipse the US as a superpower.

zingelshuher 3y ago
More likely the system will collapse into socialism. Biden/dems pack US with migrants for a reason, exactly this.