They’ve blamed Covid school closures, more students being home schooled, more students going to “virtual schools” but …
The full extent of enrollment declines can’t be chalked up to families who sought alternatives to public education during and after the pandemic, demographers with the Population Research Center at Portland State University have said. A more gradual decline was expected due to lower birthrates and rising home prices.
Source: Oregon’s pandemic-linked school enrollment plunge appears unlikely to rebound – oregonlive.com
In 2020, Oregon’s fertility rate was 1.39, the 49th lowest in the US, and on par with China at 1.3.
The Education sector is now in decline and will be shrinking in most areas, as we head into the future. Now is possibly not a good time to train to become a K-12 teacher.
Eyeballing the chart, in ten years, college enrollments may fall by 10-20%, particularly as the costs of college education continue to spiral out of sight and the value of a college education becomes less clear for many.
