That’s the question Naomi Schaefer Riley and James Piereson ask here, and their answer is that it just might.
The absurdly restrictive rules that many schools have imposed in response to Covid are causing some students to rethink their decisions, but it’s much more than that. The authors write, “The current economic crisis has exacerbated matters. Students see a tight labor market and are beginning to see that they might not need a college degree to get the job or salary they are looking for.”
Moreover, lots of people are now aware that college credentials just aren’t worth what they used to be. Having them doesn’t ensure a good job, and lots of grads end up doing work that high schoolers can do.
Some schools are lowering tuition as the market softens, and there’s also an antitrust lawsuit against a group of top schools for colluding on financial aid.
Higher education has been terribly oversold in the U.S., and the day of reckoning is at hand.