Instapundit links to a sobering article at The Ohio Star. The topic is the decline of higher education in a time of pandemic. Authored by two academics who cohost the Words & Numbers podcast, they argue that 20% of colleges and universities will likely fail in the near future. Another 30% will struggle to survive. Together that is half the total. Some key quotes:
When a quarter to almost half of a university’s income comes from room and board, it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly that those Zoom classes are gutting college and university revenue streams.
Foreign students are staying home in droves because of both the virus and US policy. (snip) Universities obtain more than twice the revenue from the typical foreign student than from the typical American student.
In 1970, 17 percent of 18 to 24 year olds in the U.S. were full-time college students at 4-year institutions. That number rose steadily to over 30 percent by 2018.
Since 2016, some 52 colleges and universities have closed their doors or merged with other institutions. With the new reality of COVID-19, this trend will accelerate.
The authors note those who graduate in a " ***** Studies" major normally gain nothing as far as lifetime earnings are concerned. The authors expect the big name and state schools to survive, the rest face an uncertain future.
This raises the issue of what your degree is worth if your alma mater folds? The prediction suggests that will be true for many people. Perhaps folks will start claiming to have degrees from former schools that were thriving when they were young.
I am so glad to have been a part of higher education's heyday, I retired just as it peaked. You can't buy that kind of luck, but you can be grateful. I am, very.
Think of all the embittered leftists who will be unemployed (and nearly unemployable) if one IHE in five goes out of business. I imagine them singing:
Those were the days, my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
