One Unexpected Blow After Another
The Lord said, “These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized. So I will startle them with one unexpected blow after another. Those who are wise will turn out to be fools, and all their cleverness will be useless.”
(Isaiah 29:13-14) GNT
As far back as January 2023 I was making a connection with the frequency of the word “Headwind,” in news headlines. Articles like this one about a drop in college enrollment.
Fewer high schoolers went to college this fall. It’s unclear WHY?
- Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY
- Updated 5:16 am EDT Oct. 23 2024
College freshman enrollment dropped this fall (2024) and researchers aren’t sure why.
It could be the mountain of problems with federal financial aid during the last enrollment cycle. Or it might be anxiety over the Supreme Court’s ban on race-conscious admissions. It may be that some Americans are changing their attitudes about the value of a college degree.
The largest reductions in freshmen happened at four-year public and private nonprofit schools. Community colleges also saw declines, but they weren’t as steep.
On a call with reporters Tuesday, Doug Shapiro, who oversaw the data analysis at the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, hesitated to identify what triggered the decline in first-year student enrollment.
“It’s very hard to pinpoint any single cause of the changes, particularly in freshmen, this fall,” he said. “There have been so many headwinds.”
Doug Shapiro
Though colleges have continued to add academic programs, the next few years will likely bring stronger headwinds. Declining birth rates will shrink the pool of high school graduates, increasing competition among universities for fewer students.
Salvation
- Call upon the name of Jesus Christ,
- believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
- confess your sin.
