When discussing falling admission rates you also need to consider the rising application rates. In the 1980s it was rare to apply a top university and students applied to relatively few universities at all.
For today’s students the strategy is to spray applications across a large number of schools and choose later. Even when I was in high school we were advised to apply to several reach schools (where our applications were probably not enough but it was worth trying) and a number of backup schools (where everyone was accepted) in addition to a selection of colleges in our range. That’s one reason why rejection rates are rising.
You said “higher education” in your original comment, but it appears you really meant elite institutions?
“Higher education” doesn’t mean the best universities. It means post-secondary education, aka college. Any college.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_education
When discussing falling admission rates you also need to consider the rising application rates. In the 1980s it was rare to apply a top university and students applied to relatively few universities at all.
For today’s students the strategy is to spray applications across a large number of schools and choose later. Even when I was in high school we were advised to apply to several reach schools (where our applications were probably not enough but it was worth trying) and a number of backup schools (where everyone was accepted) in addition to a selection of colleges in our range. That’s one reason why rejection rates are rising.