Most higher ed leaders are all too aware that some of the shifts—such as a decline in students entering college right after high school—are already underway and hitting hardest in the Northeast, the Midwest and in rural areas. Less selective private schools and regional public institutions are likely to face the stiffest challenges, Harnisch explains.

The pipeline of traditional-age students will tighten further midway through this decade because of the drop in births during the Great Recession of 2008, forcing college leaders to compete more aggressively for fewer students. “We’ve seen mergers and consolidations, and other plans to try to address a decline in the number of students coming to campus,” he adds. “Other parts of the country will be hit.”

Source: Student demographics: Big changes force higher ed reinventions

Uhhh … it’s not a 2008 Recession birth issue – the baby boom echo is over (high school grads peaked in 2008). The issue is the fertility rate continues to decline and there are fewer young people going forward.

First, the fertility rate is in decline and will decline further:

To address the fertility rate issues, U.S. universities will expand their percent of international students and recruit international students aggressively because the U.S. youth pipeline is collapsing. Look at the below age 17 cohort – that is the incoming university cohort over the next 15 years – and it is collapsing:

Universities will definitely ramp up recruiting of international students to their campuses.

This will result in more international students having global experience than have U.S. students. This will also lead to more key jobs going eventually to skilled international students with true global skills.

The U.S. must get aggressive on training U.S. students to have global experience and knowledge. If it does not, top jobs will go to the foreign born and this may lead to future anti-immigration bias.

Coldstreams