Description
College enrollment is falling, universities are facing budget cuts and closures, and higher education leaders keep talking about the coming “enrollment cliff.”
But there’s another question:
What are students actually getting for the money?
In this video, we’re looking at falling college enrollment, rising tuition, student debt, college career outcomes, degree inflation, entry-level jobs, AI and whether a college degree still provides the same advantage it once did.
The United States has thousands of colleges and universities, but many schools are now preparing for a shrinking college-age population and declining enrollment.
Higher education leaders point heavily to demographics.
Americans had fewer children after the financial crisis, meaning fewer college-age students are now entering the system.
And that absolutely matters.
But students are also looking at the price of college, the job market waiting for them after graduation and whether the degree they’re buying actually produces the outcome they were promised.
When more people have degrees, having a degree alone does less to differentiate someone.
So people get master’s degrees.
Then PhDs.
Then employers say they’re overqualified.
Meanwhile, companies are adopting AI and changing the entry-level jobs that traditionally gave new graduates a place to start.
What’s strange is how little of the discussion around the enrollment crisis focuses directly on that.
How many graduates get jobs in the field they studied?
How much do those jobs pay?
How much debt did students take on to get there?
How long does it take for the degree to pay for itself?
Those seem like pretty important questions when colleges are asking students to spend four years and potentially enormous amounts of money on an education.
Universities are trying to differentiate themselves through new programs, student experiences, facilities and connections to future industries.
But teaching something employers need and actually getting graduates hired are not necessarily the same thing.
Ultimately, college has to provide value beyond simply checking a box on a job application.
So is college still worth it?
Or has higher education become too expensive for the outcomes many students are getting?
Let me know below.
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Chapters
00:00 Why College Enrollment Is Falling
01:16 AI Is Changing Entry-Level Jobs
01:37 The College Enrollment Cliff
02:41 Is Demographics Really the Whole Problem?
03:18 College-Age Population Drops 13%
03:40 Higher Education Became a Business
04:28 Colleges Are Trying to Stand Out
05:21 Harvard Explains the Enrollment Decline
06:10 Why Colleges Can’t Just Lower Tuition
07:16 Could Falling Enrollment Improve College?
08:08 Finally — They Mention Getting a Job
09:22 How Colleges Are Trying to Compete
10:00 Are Graduates Actually Getting Jobs?
10:32 New Degrees & the “Pilot Shortage”
12:17 “It’s Not Where You Go, It’s How You Go”
13:25 College Towns Depend on Universities
15:25 Growth Mindset vs Actual Outcomes
16:09 Nobody Is Talking About AI
16:50 Is College Cooked?