OT: College enrollment and financial issues?

[T2Kplus20]

As for the enrollment issue (maybe paywalled, but I think most can get a free article). Bottom line, college should face the demo cliff from now until 2041:

The Looming College-Enrollment Death Spiral

After many decades of democratization, higher education could once again become a luxury good.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[Leonard23]

Hey, I can see your posts now. LOL! Deleted my long forgotten ignore list last week since traffic on the site is so much lighter. No need to filter anything anymore.

I guess you can combine a language/culture studies with international business or something like that. However, that does make the education more narrowly focused.

And yes, I do see a greater need for languages than the other "studies" majors we are talking about. Studying a world language in HS is very important and continuing that in college perhaps as a minor makes perfect sense.

Consulting firms and other companies like philosophy and other critical thinking, problem solving and analytical majors.

 

[T2Kplus20]

Consulting firms and other companies like philosophy and other critical thinking, problem solving and analytical majors.

True, but those are very different majors than the "studies" we are talking about.

 

[mdk02]

As for the enrollment issue (maybe paywalled, but I think most can get a free article). Bottom line, college should face the demo cliff from now until 2041:

The Looming College-Enrollment Death Spiral

After many decades of democratization, higher education could once again become a luxury good.

www.theatlantic.com

It is paywalled, but I can't agree with the initial paragraphs I could read. It said the national, prestige brands which they say cater to the wealthy will do fine. Agreed. But they go on to say the schools which are frequented by the middle and lower class commuter students will suffer. I don't see it. The public four year (no grad programs) and particularly the 2 year community colleges will get by with continued state support. The contraction will be among the 4 year private schools that catch those students who didn't get into the national prestige schools and have Shop Rite parents. BTW, the "national prestige schools" have enough scholarship money so the student body are not all named Biff and Muffy.

 

[T2Kplus20]

It is paywalled, but I can't agree with the initial paragraphs I could read. It said the national, prestige brands which they say cater to the wealthy will do fine. Agreed. But they go on to say the schools which are frequented by the middle and lower class commuter students will suffer. I don't see it. The public four year (no grad programs) and particularly the 2 year community colleges will get by with continued state support. The contraction will be among the 4 year private schools that catch those students who didn't get into the national prestige schools and have Shop Rite parents. BTW, the "national prestige schools" have enough scholarship money so the student body are not all named Biff and Muffy.

Agreed. The mediocre high-cost privates are going to get hit first and the hardest. This is already happening to the Rider's and Cuse's of the world.

 

[Leonard23]

Penn State tuition will be higher in 2027 as university grapples with lost revenue, higher personnel costs

The Penn State board of trustees has approved tuition increases and millions of dollars in spending cuts for the 2027-28 fiscal year as the university grapples with surging payroll expenses and lost tuition revenue due to declining enrollment.

www.mcall.com

 

[T2Kplus20]

Penn State tuition will be higher in 2027 as university grapples with lost revenue, higher personnel costs

The Penn State board of trustees has approved tuition increases and millions of dollars in spending cuts for the 2027-28 fiscal year as the university grapples with surging payroll expenses and lost tuition revenue due to declining enrollment.

www.mcall.com

I would say good for them (LOL!) but this is a demo trend that will impact everyone. Still, fun to read those Syracuse train wreck articles.

 

[NotInRHouse]

It is paywalled, but I can't agree with the initial paragraphs I could read. It said the national, prestige brands which they say cater to the wealthy will do fine. Agreed. But they go on to say the schools which are frequented by the middle and lower class commuter students will suffer. I don't see it. The public four year (no grad programs) and particularly the 2 year community colleges will get by with continued state support. The contraction will be among the 4 year private schools that catch those students who didn't get into the national prestige schools and have Shop Rite parents. BTW, the "national prestige schools" have enough scholarship money so the student body are not all named Biff and Muffy.

The question follows that are there really so many women's studies majors outside of the prestige brands (figure Ivies + Stanford/Duke caliber) and major publics like RU and Cult?

My guess is not. Most of the people I know that went to the Montclairs of the world majored in more "practical" things. With a degree from RU or better you can major in more open subjects because the degree itself has more value.

 

[Knight Shift]

Penn State tuition will be higher in 2027 as university grapples with lost revenue, higher personnel costs

The Penn State board of trustees has approved tuition increases and millions of dollars in spending cuts for the 2027-28 fiscal year as the university grapples with surging payroll expenses and lost tuition revenue due to declining enrollment.

www.mcall.com

"Trustees Joseph “Jay” Paterno Jr. and Matthew McGloin, both alumni-elected trustees, cast the sole dissenting votes but didn’t offer public remarks explaining their decision."

The Cult loves the Paternos and Paterno era players.

Also:

"Penn State faces a projected $79 million in lost tuition revenue.

Thorndike explained to trustees that because Penn State works on its budget two years in advance, several factors led to the university having lower enrollment than it had forecast — including plummeting international student numbers, federal research cuts affecting graduate enrollment, and an immediate freeze on new admissions at the seven closing campuses."

Wonder how much of the bolded items has to do with the current administration, and if this is ultimately a good thing or a bad thing.

 

[Rutgers Chris]

Who’s gonna launch the Rutgers memecoin?

 

[Knight Shift]

Who’s gonna launch the Rutgers memecoin?

There is a typo in that X Post. It's not CRYPTOcurrency, for the Cult--- it is CREEPTOcurrency.

 

[rureadyforsomefootball]

I'll say this about Rutgers degrees. Both my sons, one a Civil Engineer and the other with a Finance degree, both work in their chosen profession. In this day and age that seems rare with so many of their friends getting jobs that have nothing to do with the degree they got. Another plus is the fact they both got huge jobs, hired by former Rutgers grads! Networking in the tri-state area has worked for my family. Go RU

 

[Knight Shift]

I'll say this about Rutgers degrees. Both my sons, one a Civil Engineer and the other with a Finance degree, both work in their chosen profession. In this day and age that seems rare with so many of their friends getting jobs that have nothing to do with the degree they got. Another plus is the fact they both got huge jobs, hired by former Rutgers grads! Networking in the tri-state area has worked for my family. Go RU

Computer Science grads have outstanding job opportunities because of the reputation of the department. My oldest was hired by a large healthcare software company in the midwest, and this company recruits CS students from Rutgers every year.

 

[Fat Koko]

"Trustees Joseph “Jay” Paterno Jr. and Matthew McGloin, both alumni-elected trustees, cast the sole dissenting votes but didn’t offer public remarks explaining their decision."

The Cult loves the Paternos and Paterno era players.

Also:

"Penn State faces a projected $79 million in lost tuition revenue.

Thorndike explained to trustees that because Penn State works on its budget two years in advance, several factors led to the university having lower enrollment than it had forecast — including plummeting international student numbers, federal research cuts affecting graduate enrollment, and an immediate freeze on new admissions at the seven closing campuses."

Wonder how much of the bolded items has to do with the current administration, and if this is ultimately a good thing or a bad thing.

International students are at or near an all time high, depending on the data used.

If Penn State's international student numbers are plummeting, that is more of a Penn State problem more than a nationwide trend.

On the federally-funded research, the administration published a report this week stating research funding will be redirected from colleges to individual scientists to bypass "decades of accumulated institutional bureaucracy." At the individual university level, funding goes up and down by tens of millions per year (PSU up $50m in last year available) so difficult to know if these research cuts are one-off or a longer trend.

IIE Open Doors / Enrollment Trends

Using Data to Open Doors

opendoorsdata.org

 

[mdk02]

The question follows that are there really so many women's studies majors outside of the prestige brands (figure Ivies + Stanford/Duke caliber) and major publics like RU and Cult?

My guess is not. Most of the people I know that went to the Montclairs of the world majored in more "practical" things. With a degree from RU or better you can major in more open subjects because the degree itself has more value.

At 2 year community colleges probably not. At 4 year (as T2K says Rider) schools I simply don't know. But I wouldn't assume they don't have them.

 

[NotInRHouse]

"Trustees Joseph “Jay” Paterno Jr. and Matthew McGloin, both alumni-elected trustees, cast the sole dissenting votes but didn’t offer public remarks explaining their decision."

The Cult loves the Paternos and Paterno era players.

Also:

"Penn State faces a projected $79 million in lost tuition revenue.

Thorndike explained to trustees that because Penn State works on its budget two years in advance, several factors led to the university having lower enrollment than it had forecast — including plummeting international student numbers, federal research cuts affecting graduate enrollment, and an immediate freeze on new admissions at the seven closing campuses."

Wonder how much of the bolded items has to do with the current administration, and if this is ultimately a good thing or a bad thing.

It's quite bad when you consider how important intl tuition is for RU and many other schools, but really awful is attack on spending, nearly all of which is for scientific causes like curing diseases. And we're seeing the results of that with measles and cyclospora among other things.

A lot of med schools also run trials for diseases that they now had to cut or trim back. For people and their loved ones with rare cancers and other disorders it's absolutely devastating. If there's one thing I hope everyone can agree on regardless of their views is that if we're going to spend money it should be on things like that.

 

[NotInRHouse]

At 2 year community colleges probably not. At 4 year (as T2K says Rider) schools I simply don't know. But I wouldn't assume they don't have them.

Well if they're cutting back I would imagine they'd be among the first to go.

OTOH what's happening now is schools like RU are getting essential research cut. RU helped cure polio decades ago, and now money is being cut from those efforts on other diseases. And then the people defending that idea are just saying "cut women's studies." Neither should be cut. If we're going to cut things, higher education isn't the place to start.

 

[Rutgers Chris]

It's quite bad when you consider how important intl tuition is for RU and many other schools, but really awful is attack on spending, nearly all of which is for scientific causes like curing diseases. And we're seeing the results of that with measles and cyclospora among other things.

A lot of med schools also run trials for diseases that they now had to cut or trim back. For people and their loved ones with rare cancers and other disorders it's absolutely devastating. If there's one thing I hope everyone can agree on regardless of their views is that if we're going to spend money it should be on things like that.

This went viral this week. It shouldn’t be hard to distinguish between legitimate life saving research and stuff like this, but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case in practice right now.