Higher education meets high finance - The Hustle

In some respects, this is the holy grail of institutes of higher learning: earning more without actually accepting more (and losing their rarified luster). Over the past forty years, most universities seem to have solved this problem by radically increasing pricing — a move that both relies on and fortifies brand power.

Lower enrollment sends the message that four-year colleges need to lower their inflated prices. Plus, the decline may actually be coming from students who were already likely to drop out of school without a degree. By skipping school, many are saving themselves from accruing unnecessary debt for a degree they likely would never have obtained.

The rising cost of college and the student debt crisis have become one of the main causes for concern for the US economy. A growing economy and full employment mask the dangers of this crisis in the making: the overall price of higher education increased 600% between 1980 and 2010, double the rate of inflation in that period (per Ryan Craig's "Coll... See more

It’s not inconceivable that, in the next academic year, we will see a quarter of all public and private universities close their doors.