For many years, America’s college campuses collectively boasted growing student population. But as reported by CNNMoney, enrollment peaked in two thousand and ten at just over twenty one million students.
Attendance at the nation’s colleges and universities has declined ever since. According to the most recent government data available, by the fall of twenty fourteen, there were more than eight hundred thousand fewer students on college campuses.
There are a number of reasons for this, including an improving labor market that is inducing more people to work rather than pursue a degree. But there is of course a negative aspect to this. College graduates earn nearly double the salary of workers with only a high school diploma.
The recent decline in college attendance may ultimately contribute to greater income inequality. If one digs a bit deeper, the data arguably become even more troubling. The largest declines in enrollment have been at community colleges and at for profit universities. These institutions draw heavily from low income and minority households.
