WICHITA — The college business model — one that depends on students living on campus and attending classes in person — was broken even before the pandemic.
COVID-19 just made things more obvious.
Classes moved online. Campus buildings and dormitories sat empty. Students flocked home.
And many haven’t returned.
Enrollment at Kansas colleges and universities fell by 8.1% last fall — more than the national average. With continued uncertainty over COVID-19 and the highly contagious delta variant, universities could face the biggest money crisis in their history.
“The pandemic … converged with longer-term challenges facing enrollment,” said Blake Flanders, president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents.
Those problems include a steady decline in the college-going rate of Kansas high school graduates, as well as struggles recruiting international students who’ve proven so lucrative to public universities. Meanwhile, schools can’t keep many of the students they’ve already enrolled.
But it’s more than that, says Guy Smith, executive editor of the ReportOUT education journal.
“Faith in the value of higher education is suffering the greatest decline in recent history,” he said.
Return on investment
As high school students and their families consider the options — public and private universities, trade schools, certificate programs and a growing array of online options — they’re weighing the return on investment, Smith said.
Since the 1980s, the cost of a four-year degree has risen nearly eight times faster than wages. Student loan debt in the United States totals more than $1.7 trillion and is growing six times faster than the nation’s economy.
And according to new data, more than a third of college graduates hold jobs that don’t require a college degree.
“If the point of going to college is to have a four-year experience living with others away from home and studying liberal arts and studying your passion — great,” Smith said. “If the point of college is to find a career and eventual employment, colleges are woefully inadequate.”
University enrollment is down, and so are revenues from tuition and fees. Colleges also lose money when kids aren’t living in dorms, eating in dining halls or shopping in the bookstore.
