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Today we dig into what is known as “the college enrollment cliff” which officially begins in 2025 but has really already begun to be felt.   We will then go beyond that to look at what the cliff says about our economy and society as a whole.  The truth is our nation is in big trouble and in a real way, the pending collapse of many of the small colleges is just one sign of what is coming this way and quite quickly.

There are two things driving the college enrollment cliff, they are easy to understand if you examine them separately instead of blending them together.

1.  The cost of college has gone up while the value of a degree, specifically non STEM degrees has drastically declined.
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2. Declining reproduction rates have simply reduced the number of high school grads that exist, hence the total candidates to enroll.  This really started in 2009 which puts the cliff squarely in 2025, and the schools themselves know this.
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As I said though there is more to this.  Part of why a degree is no longer as valuable as it once was is that so many people have them.  More though is the shear quantity of “I showed up” degrees. Degrees with no real value to an employer.  Add to this graduates with huge entitlement attitudes and no real concept of value, whom are also deeply in debt and you are looking at but one symptom of a much deeper intellectual and economic cancer in society.

Join Me Today to Discuss…

• Once again, everything really started going to complete hell in 1971
• Fiat money created the opportunity for student loans to become an industry
• The enrollment numbers soon took off about 1974 on
• Inflation ate away at loans, and made the process sustainable until the mid-late 90s when it began to erode
• Schools decided to grow at all costs to do so they did the following….
  • Constantly raised tuition with almost no competition via tuition costs
  • Schools aggressively “recruited” underprivileged demographics since they qualified for aid
  • Schools constantly lowered the bar of admission in the name of “equity” but it was really for growth
  • Schools focused more on “student comfort” then academic excellence
  • The surplus of grads ran into a deficit of professional employment opportunity
  • Kids today have learned from watching parents and older siblings
  • Males are drastically reducing their tendency to go to college
• What is the solution from the geniuses who created the problem
  • The big name schools mostly don’t care, they just lower the bar and suck from elsewhere
  • The mid tier and private schools are singing from the sheet of “we need more diversity”
  • Soon you will hear cries that schools failing and shutting down are due to “systemic racism”
  • Schools continue to raise tuition and charge the same for remote and in person learning
  • There is a constant lobbying for “loan forgiveness” and “free community college”
• Let me ask you a few questions
  • What happens to a small town with a 10,000 student head count closes
  • Why would a young person go 50-100K in debt today for a degree when most likely they will never use it
  • Why do grads faced with reality still say, “oh but I don’t regret it, I’d do it again”
  • Hasn’t this system been the best thing that has ever happened for the elite
  • Why has the deck been so stacked against any alternative solution
  • Would we ever create this system this way today if it didn’t already exist
  • If not, why are we trying to save it
• The real problem is there is absolutely no plan for change
  • The reality is most people do not need to go to college
  • The social experience is a lot less expensive if you take a few extended vacations as a young adult
  • Automation is primarily taking jobs from mid level knowledge workers, what most grands end up doing
  • Society is transitioning and the system hates change
• Final thoughts
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Resources for today’s show…

• Find Me on Nostr
• Article Explaining the GrowNostr Initiative
• Join the Members Brigade
• TspAz.com
• TSPC on Discord
• TSPC Group on Telegram (group chat)
• TSPC Telegram Channel (just messages from me)
• Jack on MeWe
• Join Me on Odysee
• All My Recommend Bitcoin Tools and Resources
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• Vevor Garden Beds  – Item of the Day
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Video Version of Today’s Show

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