This article seems to be based on an assumption that total college enrollment in and of itself is an important and meaningful metric, and that seeing it decreas

This article seems to be based on an assumption that total college enrollment in and of itself is an important and meaningful metric, and that seeing it decrease is a bad thing. In reality, looking at total enrollment rate matters for very few people. That stat is only meaningful to universities themselves and the banks writing student loans. An individual's life, or society as a whole isn't made better solely by graduating college - at that point its just a piece of paper and a huge expense. What matters is how a person's life compares to what it would have been without college, total enrollment will never tell you that.