The Path to Success and Happiness

For John, BLUF:  When I was young the pth to El Dorado led through higher education.  Today it may well be via a trade school or apprenticeship.  Students and parents should think about this carefully.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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College enrollment drops by 1.3 million in two years

Here is the sub-headline:

Business professor identifies ‘bloated bureaucracy’ as one cause

From The College Fix, by Writer Gigi de La Torre, 12 July 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

olleges have lost 1.3 million students in the past two years according to a report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

According to the survey, college enrollment has decreased since the start of the COVID shutdowns with a 3.5 percent drop last spring semester and a 4.1 percent drop this most recent semester.

This adds to an overall 9.4 percent decrease or 1.3 million enrollment drop since the spring 2020 semester before COVID lockdowns began.

The study reported that public colleges and universities as well as community colleges suffered the greatest decrease in enrollment rates.

The Professor, mentioned in the sub-headline, Stanley Ridgley, at Drexel University’s LeBow College, says:

Bloated bureaucracy on the campuses along with a perceived decline in seriousness and courage by university administrations give people pause.

The bloated bureaucracy not only adds to the cost of higher eduction, it also infantilizes the students, who are almost all of voting age.  They should be growing into robust adults, not needing to be protected from the vagaries of life.

Further, as the bureaucracy grows the plzce and power of the professors diminishes.  This leads to a diminishment of academic freedom.

That said, the author, Ms Gigi de La Torre, attends Francisczan University of Stubenville (Ohio), a school I would encoursge young men nd ewomen to attend, if they wanted to go the college route rather than the trade school route.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff