Dive Brief:
- Writing for the New York Times, Eduardo Porter contends that there is evidence that college completion rates are stymied by a lack of college slots.
- Porter argues that the rise of for-profit schools helps demonstrate that budget crunches and other factors have hampered public universities' efforts to keep up with demand.
- Porter cites a study that refers to students being "crowded out" of higher education when capacity is slow to expand or it only expands temporarily.
Dive Insight:
While it may sometimes be true that the supply of college slots is not keeping pace with demand, it's hard to press that argument when every day seems to bring news that the supply of students is either shrinking or growing more slowly. It might be more useful to consider the kinds of college slots that are open — a seat at a four-year public university can be very different from a slot at a skills-focused vocational program.
