A shattered consensus: the end of college for everyone

For a generation or more America has held a rough cultural consensus: that the more people go to college, the better. In fact, some have argued for everyone to get some higher ed experience, or least to prepare all K-12 students for that choice.

What if that consensus is breaking up? What might happen if most of America is no longer convinced of “college for all”?

In this post I’d like to explore such a scenario. I’ll back it up with a bit of research, focusing on current trends, then conclude with some…