The College Affordability Crisis

1A

NPR

News

4.4 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

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Summary

The graduating class of 2025 is the largest the country has ever seen — around 3.9 million students. That's according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

And it'll likely be the largest group for a while.

That's because starting next school year, the number of high school seniors is expected to drop sharply. That's partly due to low birth rates connected to the 2008 recession.

We discuss how colleges and universities are grappling with declining enrollment.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Robin Hilton from NPR Music.
0:02.2	Many years ago, I helped start the Tiny Desk concert series.
0:05.4	And right now, NPR is looking for the next great, undiscovered musician to perform behind the famous desk.
0:12.0	Think you've got what it takes?
0:13.2	Submit a video of you playing an original song to the Tiny Desk Contest by February 10th.
0:18.6	Find out more and see the official rules at npr.org slash tiny desk contest.
0:27.7	Millions of high school seniors across the U.S.
0:34.4	are deep in the process of applying to college, including some of your kids.
0:38.8	We heard from Claire in Maryland.
0:40.7	Hi, I have two college-age kids both go to state schools in Maryland.
0:46.3	I have one child in particular that is absolutely a genius, and her grades are impeccable.
0:53.6	So we've been able to get some scholarship money,
0:55.9	you kind of do 500 bucks here,
0:57.6	a thousand bucks there and cobble it together
0:59.5	because the room and board totally outweighs
1:04.0	the cost of in-state tuition.
1:06.0	The best advice I can give is do the community college
1:09.6	for two years and then transfer. My kids didn't do that,
1:13.1	but only because I scrimped and saved and saved and saved for a good long time.
1:19.7	This class of 2025's projected high school graduates will be the largest the country has ever
1:25.2	experienced at about 3.9 million students. That's according to
1:29.1	the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. And it'll likely be the largest group
	...

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