The US College Meltdown has been occurring for at least eight years, and there are few signs that it will slow down in 2019.
Image below: Members of student debt group "I Am Ai" protesting fraud by the Art Institutes. (Credit: Ami Schneider)
- According to the National Student Clearinghouse, US higher education enrollment was down again in Fall 2018. This marks the eighth consecutive year of losses.
- In 2019, the National Center for Education Statistics may have to acknowledge these significant and consistent enrollment declines in their enrollment projections.
- While the number of reported campus closings was less than 500 in 2018, significant losses were reported in December, including the sudden closings of Brightwood Colleges and Virginia Colleges. Other significant closures, such as the the 23 Art Institute campuses that were shuttered on December 28th, have not yet been posted on the PEPS monthly school closing lists.
- In 2019, the Subprime College Crash will include most of University of Phoenix's remaining campuses as well as campuses of several other low performing schools.
- Hundreds of smaller campuses on the verge of failure are likely to close in 2019. For example, National American University is likely to close more than 20 campuses in 2019.
- The futures of for-profits DeVry University, Walden University, Ashford University are uncertain.
- For-profit colleges and community colleges continue to be hardest hit. But small rural colleges and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are also struggling. Even second-tier public colleges and universities have been declining in enrollment.
- Student loan debt continues to rise. In 2018, there was a significant number of news articles disclosing the negative effects of student loan debt on the lives of Millenials and their families. I have posted several links at College Meltdown.
- Student loan servicer Navient continues to promote college for high schoolers who are at higher risk for default and a lifetime of debt peonage.
- Long-standing problems like the adjunct crisis and the savage inequalities of the US K-12 pipeline, show few signs of improving.
- Private, non-profit colleges' institutional expenses have now surpassed revenues.
- The US Department of Education has become more business friendly, providing less transparency for consumers and less accountability from schools, especially subprime colleges.
- Recently, Inside Higher Education reported that the USDA was bailing out some rural private colleges. But hundreds of other schools remain in financial peril.
- Surveys by Pew, AARP, and others show that public opinion about US Higher education has worsened.
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