College Enrollments Declining

Noah Smith is the latest pundit to claim that the glory days of American higher education are over:

After climbing for many decades, college enrollment has now fallen for three consecutive years. One of the longest-running and most important trends in American history has reversed itself. . . .

College is probably good for almost everyone. But just because it’s good for you doesn’t mean it’s worth the increasingly steep price tag.

One good outcome from all of this is that for profit colleges, which I regard as disgraceful scams, are losing students the fastest; the University of Phoenix saw new enrollments fall by 12% last year, and is closing half of its campuses. Smith:

It is increasingly looking like the college craze has overshot. Young people have cheaper ways to build their human capital.