Widener Library, Harvard University (in full dress for the inauguration of the new university president. (Credit: Joseph Williams)
The president of Brandeis University in Massachusetts recently warned that up to a quarter of American colleges and universities could close permanently in the coming years. This is not necessarily a bad thing and is almost unavoidable.
Higher education in the United States is on a path that is not sustainable. It has gotten to the point where almost no one can afford to attend college without going into massive debt. People emerge from college with this debt and unless they have studied to be a doctor or lawyer, their job prospects are far from guranteed.
Plus, colleges have moved so far to the radical left that they are completely out of step with average Americans. If they end up closing, it is by their own doing.
FOX News reports:
Quarter of US colleges could close in the coming years; university president warns of major transformation
A university president is warning that up to a quarter of colleges and universities in the United States could close in the coming years.
Arthur Levine, president of Brandeis University in Massachusetts, said during a recent conversation at the American Enterprise Institute he expects between 20–25% of American colleges and universities to close their doors.
“Basically, what’s happening is that higher education is undergoing a transformation,” Levine said.
“Our whole society is undergoing a transformation,” he added. “We’re watching what was a national analog industrial economy become a global digital knowledge economy. And the consequence of that, in terms of higher education, is that we’re seeing demographic change, economic change, technological change, global change, now political change. And what’s going to happen is that 20-25%, as you know, of all colleges are going to close.”
“Traditional higher education as we know it — research universities, residential colleges — are where the transformation is going to occur,” Levine said. “It’s only occurred once before, during the Industrial Revolution, when tiny, little church-related colleges became universities and technical schools and land grant colleges and community colleges and research institutes and graduate schools and all the rest. And, this time, what I essentially said to our faculty was, ‘We’re going to see the same pattern of change we’ve always seen.’”
In Indiana, Republicans are already redirecting funds from colleges to trade schools. This is smart.
Campus Reform reports:
State lawmakers slashing budget of some universities, redirecting funds to trade schools
Indiana is eliminating over 400 low-enrollment degree programs at public universities and shifting those resources to support trade education and school choice expansion.
The changes reflect a statewide strategy to align education funding with job market needs and reduce spending on degrees with limited career value.
The state is facing a significant shortage of skilled labor, prompting lawmakers to prioritize training in high-demand fields such as electrical work, automotive repair, and other technical trades, WDRB reports. Community colleges and certification programs are receiving increased support as faster, more cost-effective alternatives to four-year degrees.
Higher education needs a massive overhaul and they are going to get it one way or another.
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