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More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

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Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#31

Post by strict9 »

This is a good thing. Too many people are entering college and taking on enormous debt to get something which is less of an edge for getting a job.

Worse, many get saddled with debt and don't finish for various reasons.

Meanwhile tuition and books keep skyrocketing as schools divert more of their attention away from academics and toward more profitable uses of institutional time and capital.

But in a bit of good news, more jobs are ditching the degree requirement as workers as more scarce. I am glad the pandemic has opened the eyes of employers to realize that a degree is not the indicator it once was.

Opinion: the self-taught are just as capable in the workforce and college degree requirements are gatekeeping.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#32

Post by ChicagoDave »

disambiguation wrote: post #27

Less than 3k kids under the age of 24 have died from covid since the start of the pandemic [0] yet they have some how wound up with the harshest restrictions. These kids will never get these years back. What a disgrace. [0] https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-by-Sex...

Like that number isn't horrendous in and of itself, but let's not forget that many young adults that have had Covid likely gave it to someone vulnerable as well.

It's not just who dies directly from Covid. It's also the spread of it to vulnerable populations.

It boggles the mind that this still has to be repeated. How many 22 year olds coming back from spring break will kill one of their parents or grandparents?

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#33

Post by bopbeepboop »

disambiguation wrote: post #27

Less than 3k kids under the age of 24 have died from covid since the start of the pandemic [0] yet they have some how wound up with the harshest restrictions. These kids will never get these years back. What a disgrace. [0] https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-by-Sex...

[dead]

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#34

Post by syki »

disambiguation wrote: post #27

Less than 3k kids under the age of 24 have died from covid since the start of the pandemic [0] yet they have some how wound up with the harshest restrictions. These kids will never get these years back. What a disgrace. [0] https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-by-Sex...

In my college system I’m responsible for cleaning my classroom after each use. If I forget to do this and a student gets sick then I’m personally liable. I’m not paid enough to clean classrooms and teach and I’m not taking on the liability. Thus, I haven’t taught in the classroom for the last 2 years.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#35

Post by nradov »

rjzzleep wrote: post #7
fortran77 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now there are movements to eliminate SATs or similar standardized tests, allowing more unqualified students to enter college. Enrollment might also be down because of COVID. For many, I think, college is more about getting away from home and living in a fun-filled alternate world for a few years with dorm rooms, frat parties, etc. With remote classes and restrictions, why bother? (I'm imagining here -- I commuted…

SATs are the dumbest thing I've encountered in testing. In the US scoring high in some SATs will even qualify you for Mensa(gifted stamp). There are a handful of companies that own a huge margin of the standardized testing market(Pearson being one of them). From selling new test learning books every year, to the massive global standardized testing training market. Maybe the movements to eliminate SATs have a differen…

College admissions officers need some way to decide which applicants to accept. If they don't use SAT scores then what should they use instead? SAT scores have pretty good correlation with college academic success (although not perfect). High school grades can't really be compared between schools due to inconsistent grading standards.

It used to be common for selective colleges to administer their own proprietary admission exams. But that was a huge burden on students applying to multiple schools, hence the switch to standardized testing.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#36

Post by tuankiet65 »

mfer wrote: post #12

US colleges have many students from foreign countries on visas. I wonder what the impact of the pandemic is on that segment of the student population. This isn't likely to hit community colleges, which the article touches on. Just trying to point out that digging deeper might show some interesting details.

From what I've seen , international students who are supposed to attend colleges in 2020 were affected the most:

* Some abandoned their international studies plan and attended local colleges instead.

* Some took a gap year to wait until 2021.

* A minority pushed on and took classes online until they're able to come to the US.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#38

Post by brtkdotse »

chrisseaton wrote: post #8
jack_pp wrote: post #4

A big reason for going to college is socializing so.. makes no sense to go now.

Socialising, sport, arts, drama, many people meet their spouse at university, yeah lots of reasons that don't apply any more.

You can do all of those without incurring crippling debt.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#39

Post by achenatx »

chrisseaton wrote: post #23
tootahe45 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the socializing/networking thing is over-sold unless you go to a top-tier uni where students may be from wealthy families and are therefore well socialized, or do something non-cs like business studies. Everyone i studied with were introverts (gamer-types). High school was way better for socializing. Oh and there were like 2 females total in all of my CS classes.

> Everyone i studied with were introverts (gamer-types). Trick is to find ways out of the engineering department. I did Latin as an optional, and I was in a sports team where nobody was an engineer. Plus presumably you aren't living in an engineering-specific halls?

study in the education library...

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#40

Post by inanutshellus »

disambiguation wrote: post #27

Less than 3k kids under the age of 24 have died from covid since the start of the pandemic [0] yet they have some how wound up with the harshest restrictions. These kids will never get these years back. What a disgrace. [0] https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-by-Sex...

"I'm young and healthy, I should be allowed to spread a new virus to the entire planet. The health of my society is not my responsibility. What a disgrace."
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