What happens to college towns after peak 18-year-old?
www.theargumentmag.com
As the supply of young people dries up, towns built around America’s higher education system will learn what happens when the students stop coming

“This student, like many others, isn’t just responding to an immediate economic calculation. He’s also caught in an invisible (and increasingly visible) demographic force: America is running out of people his age. Even if colleges fixed their cost and value proposition tomorrow — even if tuition dropped and job prospects improved — there would still be fewer students like him to fill seats. We are hitting peak 18-year-old, and the decline is just beginning.”

  • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    20 hours ago

    “Peak X” is a phrase that is often used to convey the highest point in a long term trend. And if we are past that peak, that implies that the trend will continue to be lower and lower for the foreseeable future.

    Consider the nation’s supply of 18 year olds that would normally enter college. We can’t just create more 18 year olds on demand, couples would had to have gotten busy 19-ish years ago to produce today’s supply of 18 year olds. With birth rates declining, not only are there fewer 18 year olds now than before, but those 18 year olds will be able to make fewer humans for the future when they all get busy with each other later.

    • Sergio@piefed.socialEnglish
      51·
      19 hours ago

      We can’t just create more 18 year olds on demand,

      Well, there’s an easy way to get a lot of 18 year olds, but ICE is making sure that won’t happen.