Saturday, July 14, 2018

Why Enrollment Is Shrinking At Many American Colleges - Richard Vedder, Forbes

A seven-hour car ride northeast from WIU's Macomb campus brings you to the home of Eastern Michigan University (EMU). Enrollment, more than 25,000 in 1990, is around 21,000 today. A few hours drive to the southeast, at the University of Akron, enrollment fell from almost 30,000 in 2011 to 23,114 in 2016, a decline of more than 20% in five years. The enrollment declines have been particularly acute in the industrial Midwest, but noticeable elsewhere as well. The basic problem is that colleges actually impart directly employable skills for only a very modest portion of the college population (such as engineering and accounting majors) and that employers hiring high paid workers feel they need someone with more than a degree from the College of Last Resort. I do not see this trend changing much soon to help the Western Illinois and Eastern Michigans of the world. https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardvedder/2018/07/05/academic-deserted-villages/