Enrollment is down ~ 20 % this year at my regional institution, even at community colleges, which usually experience an upswing in enrollment during recessions enrollment is down. Even at top-100 institutions, like the University of Vermont, enrollment is down ~ 20 %. Must be a good year to get into Harvard or Stanford. There's also the secular trend of decreasing student numbers, the echo of the baby boom is wearing off.
It's bad. Neither party has a political response to the coronarecession, public institutions had their funding cut severely because states can't print money, they have to balance their budgets. Private institutions will drop dead like bogflies. Ordinarily one wouldn't cry for any of the many low-ranked sectarian colleges that will bite the dust, but their faculty will compete in the labour market.
And no political response is to be seen. Traditionally, under Democratic leadership the science budget is bigger, but we haven't heard anything about that from the incoming Harris-Biden administration. It's really bad and makes you want to vote Republican because of protectionism and reduced immigration.
The only safe funding now is soft money.
It's bad. Neither party has a political response to the coronarecession, public institutions had their funding cut severely because states can't print money, they have to balance their budgets. Private institutions will drop dead like bogflies. Ordinarily one wouldn't cry for any of the many low-ranked sectarian colleges that will bite the dust, but their faculty will compete in the labour market.
And no political response is to be seen. Traditionally, under Democratic leadership the science budget is bigger, but we haven't heard anything about that from the incoming Harris-Biden administration. It's really bad and makes you want to vote Republican because of protectionism and reduced immigration.
The only safe funding now is soft money.