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Dahn Shaulis dahneshaulis@gmail.com Community college enrollment has dropped by 1.6 million students (23%) in the last six years.  Even worse, full-time enrollment at community colleges has dropped by 36% over the last 6 years. Source for Data: National Student Clearinghouse. US college enrollment has dropped by about 2.5 million students over the last six years, but this College Meltdown has not been spread evenly. For-profit colleges have been hardest hit in their percentage decline of students and campus closings. But community colleges, which may be the best educational value for working families, have been even harder hit in the sheer numbers who are not attending. While the for-profit college crash has been well documented in the media, the crisis in community colleges has been under-reported. For-profit colleges have seen a decline of about 600,000 students since their peak, but community college enrollment has declined even more, by 1.6 million. [Image below:  ...

Dahn Shaulis dahneshaulis@gmail.com This chart illustrates the mostly downward movement of the College Meltdown.  Overall, revenues to higher education institutions continue to rise, but these numbers mask the many weaknesses in the system. What we are looking at is unsustainable.  While elite colleges and brand name colleges will continue to thrive, many for-profit colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, community colleges, and lesser valued public and private colleges will suffer. This trend may be disturbing for working people and their families, but it is also an opportunity for others to consolidate power and increase profits.   

Dahn Shaulis dahneshaulis@gmail.com 42% of today’s college students are living near or below the poverty line. Student services have been cut substantially since the last recession. Total US college debt has increased to $1.4 trillion. Only about 40% of student loan debtors are paying back more than interest.   US college enrollment has declined 5 consecutive years, with no reasonable expectation that the decline will slow down.  State funding cuts for higher education are continuing in several states, with no new taxes and increasing burdens from Medicaid, pensions, and infrastructure repair.  More than half of all college teachers are low-paid adjuncts. College mergers and closings are expected to increase.  Differences between for-profit and non-profit colleges continue to be blurred.  All are signs of a long-term crisis in US higher education reinforcing even greater social inequality--what I have coined the "College Meltdown." Every year, t...

Dahn Shaulis dahneshaulis@gmail.com Angulo, A. (2016). Diploma Mills: How For-profit Colleges Stiffed Students, Taxpayers, and the American Dream Armstrong, E. and Hamilton, L. (2015). Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality Bennett, W. and Wilezol, D. (2013). Is College Worth It?: A Former United States Secretary of Education and a Liberal Arts Graduate Expose the Broken Promise of Higher Education                           Berg, G. (2005). Lessons from the Edge: For-profit and Nontraditional Higher Education in America Best, J, and Best, E. (2014). The Student Loan Mess: How Good Intentions Created a Trillion-Dollar Problem Blumenstyk, G. (2014). American Higher Education in Crisis?: What Everyone Needs to Know Bousquet, M. (2008). How the University Works: Higher Education and the Low Wage Nation Breneman, D. et al. (2006). ...

Dahn Shaulis dahneshaulis@gmail.com [Image above: Turning Point USA, a neoconservative student group, has grown to more than 1100 high school and college chapters since its founding in 2012.] The College Meltdown has been developing for decades. But now, it is at a turning point as the Trump Administration enters office.  Most likely, American colleges are headed toward more racial and ethnic tension, less transparency, and more corruption.  And the Trump Administration's solutions, which include privatization and deregulation , may not only accelerate the College Meltdown, their "hands off" approach to civil rights may increase conflicts on campus. Donald Trump's selection of Betsy Devos and Jeff Sessions as US Secretary of Education and Attorney General have already sent a loud statement to those who research and analyze organizational effectiveness and institutional corruption in education. The loud statement is that citizens should keep...

Dahn Shaulis dahneshaulis@gmail.com Professionals in higher education may deny that a US College Meltdown is occurring, but that doesn't mean it's not here. Arguably, a few variables related to the phenomenon have improved since the economic downturn of 2008-2009, but that's not a return to a healthy situation. That's why I have written more than two dozen articles on corruption, dysfunction, and financial failures in American higher education to document the many facets of the meltdown. When I speak of College Meltdown, I am referring to the slow-moving decline of US colleges and affiliated businesses, which includes the following variables: (1) increased student loan debt , (2) decreased gainful employment of those who matriculate, (3) declines in student returns on investment (ROI), (4) increased student loan non-repayments, (5) increased student defaults, (6) reduced college enrollment numbers , (7) declines in entrance standards, (8) reductions in college revenues...

Dahn Shaulis dahneshaulis@gmail.com American cultural outlets are slowly recognizing just how unequal society has become.  Traditional images of the American Dream and the values of meritocracy are being challenged by more critical discussions about a dangerously unequal society, including the increasingly corrupt and caste-like nature of  higher education.  The following quotes highlight this slow change in consciousness: "...Public universities and colleges no longer offer the same degree of opportunity they provided to low and moderate income Americans as recently as a generation ago (Dr. Suzanne Mettler in "Degrees of Inequality"). "...Mergers are a hot topic for all kinds of schools, regardless of race and mission. They are presented by legislators as a way to save taxpayer money, strengthen research and educational opportunities, and to increase visibility in a hyper-competitive rush for student enrollment. But beneath the s...