There is growing concern surrounding the dramatic decline in enrollment across higher education, particularly in liberal arts institutions. The Chronicle of Higher Education has persistently highlighted this crisis, presenting evidence that underscores its severity.
In a notable article from 2019, Bill Conley, former vice president for enrollment management at Bucknell University, outlined how the long-predicted constriction in college enrollment was becoming manifest. Factors such as incessantly rising tuition costs, stagnant wages in America, and a steady decline in birth rates collectively signal a troubling trajectory. Conley starkly warned, “Those who viewed modest declines in high-school graduations by 2020 as manageable must now confront the statistical reality: Things are poised to deteriorate further.” His focus on demographic shifts, specifically the diminishing number of children born to American families, underscores a critical driver of reduced demand for higher education. However, Conley refrained from delving deeply into the underlying causes.
Similarly, an early 2021 article by economist Nathan Grawe in CHE avoided dissecting the roots of the enrollment downturn but offered strategies for institutions to weather this storm. Grawe advocated for embracing methodologies like test-optional admissions to accommodate students who may not meet traditional academic standards. Yet, he acknowledged that such measures would not expand the overall pool of potential students amidst the demographic decline.
Recent data validates Conley’s dire predictions. This fall alone, total undergraduate enrollments nationwide have plummeted by nearly 10%, equating to a staggering decrease of almost 1.5 million college students over the past two years. While enrollments in four-year institutions continue to decline, community colleges and vocational programs are experiencing a notable surge. This shift underscores a strategic recalibration among prospective students and their families, who meticulously weigh the return on investment in education against future earning potential.
Economic considerations undeniably play a pivotal role in this landscape. As the cost of higher education skyrockets and its perceived value diminishes, a predictable decline in consumption ensues. Yet, economics alone fails to encapsulate the entire narrative. Largely unexplored in the Chronicle’s investigative discourse is the deleterious impact of higher education’s own cultural milieu on its viability.
The prevailing, increasingly radicalized ethos of social justice in contemporary academia has precipitated open condemnation of affluent individuals within the socioeconomic spectrum. These individuals historically constitute the majority of families paying full tuition, bearing a disproportionate burden in underwriting the economic feasibility of higher education. On many campuses, faculty members frequently articulate denunciatory sentiments, characterizing wealthy students—especially those who are white—as unwelcome impediments to the newfound mission of higher education: social justice. This ideological framework often compels privileged students to grapple with a mandated sense of culpability for historical injustices preceding their birth. Consequently, they are portrayed as reactionary adversaries of higher education’s evolving ethos, perceived as obstructive to the equitable distribution of educational opportunities among historically disadvantaged groups reliant on financial aid.
Critics seldom address the economic ramifications of displacing full-tuition students and replacing them with counterparts heavily reliant on financial assistance. The systematic dumbing down and politicization of academic standards and curricula, alluded to by Grawe, are integral to broader efforts aimed at diversifying student demographics. Yet, this transformation remains largely unacknowledged for what it truly represents. Beyond the rhetoric, few are willing to confront the blatant reality that conventional grading systems and standardized testing are impediments to achieving the goals of social justice.
Across humanities and social science disciplines—particularly in politically charged “Studies” fields—the erosion of scholarly rigor is palpable. Once grounded in empirical inquiry and quantifiable methodologies, these disciplines have regressed into mere vehicles for advancing the catch-all explanation of oppression as the definitive answer to all intellectual inquiries. Humanities programs, once steeped in the rich canon of Western literature and history, have pivoted towards prioritizing graphic novels and television series as primary texts.
Grade inflation stands as an irrefutable testament to the compromise of academic standards within higher education. While insiders concede its existence, the activist professoriate vehemently denies its implications, as it starkly exposes the shortcuts taken to accommodate a new, ostensibly diverse student body. Parents and prospective students are gradually awakening to these realities, increasingly opting against investing in an exorbitantly priced education that prioritizes emotional and ideological indoctrination over substantive knowledge acquisition and career prospects.
The demographic revolution, characterized by a precipitous decline in family size, is influenced significantly by economic factors. Yet, it is equally undeniable that contemporary higher education perpetuates a cultural ethos fundamentally at odds with family values and child-rearing. Provocatively, discussions are raised about the societal valuation of paid labor in the external workforce vis-à-vis the indispensable contributions of parents—both mothers and fathers—who dedicate the lion’s share of their lives to childcare and household maintenance. Why does society often assign greater significance to roles in sectors such as advertising, focused on driving consumerism, over the pivotal role of parenting in nurturing future generations?
Higher education institutions actively promote a cultural narrative that subtly diminishes the centrality of familial bonds and parental responsibilities. Entire departments, like Women’s Studies, and segments of other disciplines within the social sciences, perpetuate the notion that traditional gender-based divisions of labor and familial structures—centered on married, two-parent households—are archaic manifestations of patriarchal oppression rather than adaptive responses to societal needs.
The demographic transformation, catalyzed in part by feminist ideologies and progressive redefinitions of family norms, finds fertile ground for dissemination within higher education institutions. Recent events, such as the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, underscore the pervasive influence of this cultural narrative. Across campuses, seminars and teach-ins on reproductive rights burgeoned, promoting a framework where pregnancy and childbirth are portrayed as impediments to achieving gender equality and economic success. Consequently, college-educated women often emerge with altered perspectives on family planning, while men are subjected to rigorous socialization into this new feminist cultural paradigm.
The degradation of academic rigor coincides with the transformation of the professorial class. Traditionally entrusted with transmitting rigorous disciplinary knowledge, today’s professors assume an amalgamated role as cheerleaders, mental-health therapists, counselors, entertainers, social workers, pseudo-parents, and confidants. However, the proliferation of these ancillary roles compromises their capacity to maintain scholarly rigor and pedagogical excellence.
The prevailing trend towards ideological homogeneity further compounds the erosion of higher education’s foundational mission and cultural identity. While diversity initiatives are ubiquitous on campuses, genuine discourse on diverse ideas, political ideologies, and worldviews remains conspicuously absent. Publications like the Chronicle, while diligent in documenting the demographic crisis, consistently sidestep the critical factors contributing to this precipitous decline.
Ultimately, higher education stands on the precipice of a reckoning, having strayed from its traditional mission and cultural ethos. Alexander Riley, a sociology professor at Bucknell University, cogently captures these multifaceted challenges facing contemporary academia. As enrollments dwindle and ideological conformity pervades, higher education must confront its existential crisis with introspection and reform—lest it forfeit its role as a bastion of knowledge and critical inquiry in society.
