How Can Technology Convince Students of Higher Education’s Value?
Fewer high schoolers are heading to college. Technology can bring students back.
“You’re in high school, and you tear home after the final bell to check your mailbox. Inside is what you’ve been waiting for. It’s addressed to you from the college you’ve dreamed about attending, the one that will vault you into a successful career and where you will make friends and memories to last a lifetime.
You open the envelope. “Congratulations,” the letter begins, “we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted …”
You yelp. You run inside to tell your family. You call your friends. This is it. You’re going to college next year to get a diploma that will open doors for the rest of your life.
Now, fast-forward a couple of decades. Many high school students aren’t looking for letters in the mail. They don’t believe college is the quickest, most affordable or even smartest way to get to where they want to be.
This is the age of competition in higher education: It’s less about which schools students can get into and more about schools convincing students that the investment will be worth it.
Enrollment Data Shows Students Are Skipping College
There was a time not so long ago when attending college made a person stand out. In 1980, fewer than half (49%) of high school graduates immediately went to two- or four-year colleges, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Less than 30 years later, in 2009, that number had spiked to more than 70% of high school grads.
Since then, however, the trend has been moving in the opposite direction. By 2022, the last year for which data is available, just 62% of high school graduates were heading straight to college.
After years of believing college was the way — maybe the only way — to achieve professional success, that belief is wavering for many.
The shoe is now on the other foot when it comes to those acceptance letters: Students once cheered them, but now the colleges are the ones cheering when students decide to enroll. And the competition will only get stiffer with the enrollment cliff — based on sharp declines in the American birth rate since 2008 — now right around the corner.