High School Seniors Now Considering ‘Gap Years’ Which Could Devastate Colleges

This is going to hurt.

Nearly one in six graduating seniors are now considering taking a gap year instead of attending a four-year college in the fall due to the uncertainty related to the Wuhan Flu Epidemic. Though some states are beginning to loosen restrictions and reopen businesses and start to allow gatherings, Dr. Anthony Fauci warns a second wave will inevitably result. This uncertainty means that some college students just don’t want to go through with all the applying, moving, and transitioning in the fall if it simply means they’ll be right back at home.

This could change college as we know it.

National Review has more:

The impact of a large-scale exodus on campus life can be easily imagined, but could be temporary. Far more worrisome to campus administrators, however, is the fiscal impact. A surge in gap years may not be evenly distributed along economic lines. That could have startling consequences for the finances of colleges. According to the Department of Education’s most recent survey in 2015-16, 72 percent of all undergraduates received some type of financial aid; sixty-three percent received grant aid. Even among students with six-figure family incomes, the majority receive financial aid.

Colleges, especially private colleges that cost in the $60,000-70,000 a year range, rely heavily on the remaining quarter of students who can afford to pay the sticker price. The pressure to retain a baseline of these full-price students is why a number of colleges in recent years have openly adopted “need aware” rather than “need blind” admissions, pleading that their balance sheets require it. That is partly a matter of bringing in revenue, and partly a matter of subsidizing students who receive non-governmental aid.

What happens if the richest students bail out?The entire economic model of campuses could be undermined, especially if nobody at all is paying room and board and there is no revenue to be had from athletic programs, while colleges are still paying for their sprawling real estate and the extensive bureaucratic overhead that supports modern campus life. For some schools, this could create a spiral: Once you are no longer receiving the needed infusion of full-price tuitions, you don’t have the resources to offer as much aid. Doomsayers have predicted a higher-ed bubble-burst for a while now, and we could see it pop. Some schools on the margins may go out of business; others may finally face real pressure to trim back layers of administration and delay campus-life building projects.

The whole article is fascinating, and it’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out.

I’m a big fan of education, but many colleges have long ago put actual knowledge and wisdom on the back burner… replaced by any number of politically correct classes that actually undermine truth.

What will this new belt-tightening do to the ridiculous and extraneous college positions that were created to appease social justice warriors?  I assume they’d have to be eliminated due to necessity. Also, I believe many students who take a gap year – and end up skipping college altogether – might be better off because they won’t receive the inevitable college indoctrination delivered by the overwhelmingly liberal professors and staff.

I’m not worried about these colleges – some of which have endowments richer than nations – surviving.  In fact, I look forward to them cutting some of the ludicrous classes and positions that were created to undermine faith, America, and capitalism.

Hat Tip: National Review