Episode 84: What first looked like a pandemic blip for our nation’s colleges has turned into a crisis.

According to a recent story by Collin Binkley of The Associated Press, undergraduate college enrollment dropped 8% from 2019 to 2022, with declines even after returning to in-person classes. In fact, the enrollment drop rate since 2018 is the steepest on record.

Richard Kyte and Scott Rada discuss which students are a good fit for higher education and why an increasing number are looking at other options after high school.

Links to stories discussed during the podcast:

Valparaiso intends to sell Georgia O’Keeffe painting to fix dorms, by Kalia Richardson, The New York Times

Is college worth it? Voters are split, by Monica Potts, FiveThirtyEight

About the hosts: Scott Rada is social media manager with Lee Enterprises, and Richard Kyte is the director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wis.