Category Archives: economics

One year later, more campuses cross the $100,000 per year boundary

Nearly a decade ago I asked the question: when will the first American college or university charge more than $100,000 per year to attend?  Today I’d like to revisit that question by checking on the subsequent reality. NB: I’ve been … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, higher education, horizon scanning | 8 Comments

American colleges and universities finally crack the $100,000 per year barrier

When will the first American college or university cost more than $100,000 per year to attend? I first raised this question back in 2018.  I was studying higher education finances, doing some basic extrapolations, and wondered about the possibility of … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, future of education, higher education, horizon scanning | 2 Comments

Celebrate the New Year with a happy Public Domain Day!

Happy New Year, everyone!  Welcome aboard, 2025! And what better way to celebrate the new year then to recognize a whole slew of cultural objects just entered the public domain?  Yes, books, movies, and more from 1929 (and audio recordings … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, economics, literature, movies, politics, storytelling, technology | 1 Comment

Academic closures, mergers, and cuts: July 2024 edition

Greetings from the start of August.  This week I’ve been home, here in Manassas, and that’s meant some pretty substantial heat, with temperatures in the upper 90s and heat index cracking 101. Today’s post covers another kind of heat, how … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, enrollment, horizon scanning | 3 Comments

Academic closures, mergers, and cuts: June 2024 edition.

As June just ran its course, I wanted to share stories of academic cuts I’ve been tracking from that month. I’ve actually been blogging this theme for months now (March 1, March 20, March 28, April, May), partly as evidence … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, enrollment, horizon scanning | Tagged | 1 Comment

More academic cuts: May 2024 edition

How are colleges and universities responding to financial and other pressures? This year I’ve been tracking a series of institutional budget crises, spending cuts, layoffs, mergers, and campus closures. They seemed to spike in March (1, 2, 3) and continued in April.  … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, horizon scanning | Tagged | 11 Comments

When will the first college or university charge six figures per year? A 2024 update

When will the first American college or university charge $100,000 or more to attend? What might that mean for higher education? I first posed this question, a little wryly, back in 2018.  My intent six years ago was to scope … Continue reading →

Posted in economics | 9 Comments

Academic cuts, mergers, and closures from April

April has brought more academic cuts, mergers and closures.  I noted examples of this trend in last month (1, 2, 3) but as they used to say on radio, the hits keep coming.  A Hechinger Report article claimed one institutional … Continue reading →

Posted in economics | 6 Comments

March is the cruelest month: more academic cuts and closures

Some days I feel like I’m live-blogging my new book across a bunch of web browser tabs.  That is, I’m working on Peak Higher Education in several web browsers across three machines, with tabs open to Google Docs, an RSS … Continue reading →

Posted in economics | 4 Comments

John Oliver’s student loan crisis update

Nearly a decade ago the comedian John Oliver took on student loans on his remarkably pedagogical show.  It was a good, bracing overview of the problem as it stood then. This week Oliver returned to the theme.  I wanted to … Continue reading →

Posted in economics | 7 Comments