We think of them as intellectual enclaves and the surest route to a better life. But U.S. colleges also operate like firms, trying to differentiate their products to win market share and prestige points. In the first episode of a special series originally published in 2022, we ask what our chaotic system gets right — and wrong. (Part 1 of “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”)
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In a few weeks, a new batch of students will arrive at the nearly 4000 colleges across the us.
It has been a turbulent time for higher education.
Enrollment is up a bit over the past couple semesters, but that comes after years of decline.
I colleges are closing or merging at a rate of about one a week, and the already heated conversation about free speech on campus got even hotter during the springtime protests around the war in Gaza.
Perhaps most important, trust in higher education has been eroding, first on the right side of the political spectrum, but the left is catching up.
Last week we spoke with Tanya Tetlow, the president of Fordham University in New York City, about how she has tried to navigate the turbulence.
We have always authorized any request to protest on our campus that students bring us, but what we navigate with them is, you know, you don't point bullhorns at the library during study session.
And earlier this year we spoke with Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, about having hard conversations on campus.
You can't please everyone, but I don't think that's an excuse to say nothing.