And—it’s an increasingly urgent problem to solve. Since I went to college, the average sticker price of attending a private, four-year college or university has more than doubled. And if the current trajectory continues, my 13-year-old daughter will paydoubletoday's sticker price by the time she's a senior in college. Higher education is priceless, but too expensive.

As sticker prices increase, enrollments continue to decline

Since 2000, enrollment at four-year institutions has declined 1-2% per year, declining by 5% after the COVID-19 pandemic. A multitude of reasons are behind the drop in enrollment, includingdeclining U.S. birth rates. It’s beyond all doubt, however, that the biggest factor driving lower enrollments is the ever-increasing cost of accessing higher education.

Critics might point out that most students pay less than the sticker price, but73%of high schoolers will eliminate certain colleges from consideration because of the sticker price alone, and20%are considering delaying college—or skipping it altogether.

这些事实并不完全是对高等教育及其感知投资回报率的有力支持，但如果入学率持续下降，利害攸关的绝不是美国经济的竞争力和更广泛的美国梦。

Student Loans versus Treehouse Homes

Fans of the American music duo,Twenty One Pilots, will undoubtedly be familiar with the hit song,Stressed Out——在Spotify上播放超过15亿次。The song broadly addresses the generational concerns of America’s youth, with one notable lyric stating:

Out of student loans and treehouse homes,
we all would take the latter/ladder.

The words require little interpretation: student loans aren’t a desirable means to a desirable end.

It’s a lesson that not enough university administrators fully comprehend. Shorter, less expensive, “just in time“学历证书越来越受欢迎，而更全面、更全面的学位却被取代了。Consider the following about coding bootcamps, as reported inCourse Report:

• The typical cost of a coding bootcamp is $14,000 and takes 3-6 months to complete
• Coding bootcamps are operating in 85 cities across North America (and many are fully remote and accessible from anywhere)
• These programs typically graduate 25,000 students per year, accounting for $350 million in tuition revenue

As alternative credentials, such as boot camps, continue to grow in popularity, what’s at stake is much more than just the viability of traditional four-year degree programs.

The road to the American Dream still passes through college

In 2019, I assumed the office of President of Hope College. Although I had graduated from Hope nearly two decades prior, the path that led me back to Holland, Michigan, passed through both the public and private sectors. I saw first-hand how economic and financial systems worked differently for different people.

I realized that income inequality is asymptomof the problem ofeducation inequality. Income is the outcome. Increasing costs erodes access to a college education, which increases inequality of the outcome. And, where accessispossible, increasing numbers of students (and their parents) are “purchasing” it by taking on insurmountable amounts of debt.

It was these years of work in both government and financial services that forced me to confront a question that is central to our national moment:how hard are we willing to work to be a land of opportunity for all versus a land of privilege for the few?

How hard are we willing to work to be a land of opportunity for all versus a land of privilege for the few?

Declining college enrollments pose critical risks to the U.S.

Globally, obtaining a college degree remains exceptionally uncommon—just 6.7% of the world has done so. And although that percentage averages 45% in the United States, it is adownwardtrend in enrollments that poses three critical risks for our country.

1. National Competitiveness:Thriving economies depend on a division of labor that enables workers to specialize in different job functions. With fewer Americans pursuing higher education, we risk losing those skills that are needed to run companies, manage large teams, improve complex processes, and more.
   
   
2. Career Growth Potential:Alternatives to the four-year degree program exist in the form of bootcamps and technical colleges. Although we must acknowledge the value and importance of such options, the overarching tendency of such programs is to get graduates on thefastest pathto theirfirst job, not a path to long-term career growth. In other words, the four-year degree remains the most predictable path to upward mobility.
   
   
3. Creativity and Broad Thinking:Jobs, and the skills required to be successful in them, will constantly change as technologies evolve. What will not change, however, is the need for good thinking, creativity, the ability to analyze, and the ability to lead and mentor other human beings. Those abilities are gained most often in the very degree programs that fewer students now pursue.

Students deserve hope

对我来说，美国梦不是一个普通人如何获得财富，而是一个普通人如何对他人产生变革性的影响。正是怀着这样的想法，2018年，我申请了希望学院的校长一职。世界杯荷兰vs厄瓜多尔走地我的目标是改变学生接受高等教育的方式。

This article is the first in a series in which I’ll be exploring the ways that the economics of higher education influence the decisions students make about their education—and what we (as a country) can do to improve access to higher education.

解决获取信息的挑战需要许多人的努力，同时需要形成一场相信这一事业并渴望产生变革影响的运动。I invite you to comment and share your own thoughts, insights, and experiences as we go.

Learn more about Hope Forward, an entirely new funding model for tuition at Hope College

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