US higher education braces for falling student numbers

Significance

With many US colleges and universities lacking endowments and already struggling financially, the expected decline in enrolments in the coming years will pose additional challenges for an educational sector whose value is already questioned.

Impacts

• The upcoming Supreme Court decision on the Biden administration’s student debt forgiveness plan will again highlight the cost of college.
• The fall in student numbers, and the resultant closure of colleges, will be greater in the Northeast and Midwest than the South and West.
• A move in traditional institutions towards more a more vocational approach to education will trigger pushback from some faculty and donors.