Source: Washington Post
A few weeks ago, Moody’s Investors Service said that 25 percent of private colleges are running deficits. The news isn’t much better for public universities, according to Moody’s. Last year, revenue at state-run schools grew 2.9 percent while expenses jumped 4.8 percent — the second consecutive year that expenses outpaced revenue. What’s especially troublesome for colleges and universities is that these trends are emerging in a strong economy and as higher education heads into a period of stagnation among traditional high school graduates nationwide. The number of high school graduates is projected to rise slightly in the middle of next decade. Then, between 2026 and 2031, the ranks of high school graduates are expected to drop by 9 percent. In that period, four-year colleges nationwide stand to lose almost 280,000 students.