A REMARKABLE CHANGE:  COLLEGES ARE LOSING THEIR APPEAL TO AMERICAN STUDENTS:  From Legal Insurrection:

A new trend in education is taking shape. In post-pandemic America, more students are opting to skip college and enter the workforce instead.

Who can blame these students for wanting to earn money rather than go into debt, especially at a time when so many schools are still making COVID-related demands?

The Associated Press reports:

When he looked to the future, Grayson Hart always saw a college degree. He was a good student at a good high school. He wanted to be an actor, or maybe a teacher. Growing up, he believed college was the only route to a good job, stability and a happy life.

The pandemic changed his mind.

A year after high school, Hart is directing a youth theater program in Jackson, Tennessee. He got into every college he applied to but turned them all down. Cost was a big factor, but a year of remote learning also gave him the time and confidence to forge his own path…

Hart is among hundreds of thousands of young people who came of age during the pandemic but didn’t go to college. Many have turned to hourly jobs or careers that don’t require a degree, while others have been deterred by high tuition and the prospect of student debt.

What first looked like a pandemic blip has turned into a crisis. Nationwide, undergraduate college enrollment dropped 8% from 2019 to 2022, with declines even after returning to in-person classes, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse. The slide in the college-going rate since 2018 is the steepest on record, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Economists say the impact could be dire.

At worst, it could signal a new generation with little faith in the value of a college degree.

At minimum, it appears those who passed on college during the pandemic are opting out for good. Predictions that they would enroll after a year or two haven’t borne out.

The Associated Press seems almost panicked about this. Why? When did it become a rule that absolutely everyone has to go to college?

COMMENT:  And that's the right question.  It's a good thing to be skeptical of the cult of the college graduate.   I'm all for education, and especially a true education in the liberal arts.  But that's rarely given these days.  There are many routes to success and happiness.  Four years in a college is only one of them, and for many students it seems to be a disappointment.

March 12, 2023