Why fewer kids are going to college
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2022
⏱️ 26 minutes
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Summary
Why college enrollment numbers are down. And how one solution to climate change could threaten an endangered species.
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May 1 is college decision day, which is the last chance students have to submit the deposit that secures their spot at the university or college of their choice. But colleges aren’t getting as many students as usual. Enrollment has shrunk more than 5 percent since 2019 — that’s a loss of nearly 1 million students. Danielle Douglas-Gabriel explains why enrollment is down and what it means for higher education.
Then, we join scientists from the New England Aquarium on an expedition off the coast of Cape Cod in search of the elusive right whale. With only about 300 right whales left, the species ranks as one of the world’s most endangered marine mammals. Nearly annihilated centuries ago by whalers, right whales today face new threats from climate change. Dino Grandoni reports on how rising temperatures are driving them to new seas and how one climate solution – offshore wind turbines – could encroach on their habitat.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | College Decision Day, which is May 1st every year, is a time where families get to decide |
| 0:12.2 | where their student is going, they tell their college or university, hey I want to be at |
| 0:17.2 | your campus this fall and they submit a deposit to secure their space. |
| 0:22.7 | But it's a really exciting time for students, for their families, for their actual high |
| 0:27.4 | schools. Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! |
| 0:36.6 | You'll see lots of really cute videos and everything as people make that decision and make |
| 0:41.4 | it public. Danielle Douglas Gabriel covers the economics of higher education for the post |
| 0:50.4 | and she's noticed the vibe has changed lightly. The kind of exuberance and excitement that |
| 0:56.5 | I think you normally experience around a decision day has been tempered quite a bit by the pandemic. |
| 1:03.5 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. I'm Ella Hay-Ezzatti in for |
| 1:09.2 | Martin Powers. It's Thursday, April 28th. Today, as college decision day approaches for students |
| 1:16.4 | across the country, we look at why enrollment is down and why that matters. Plus, later in the show, |
| 1:23.2 | Wales already on the brink of extinction could face a new threat from a surprising source |
| 1:29.1 | when turbines. |
| 1:43.4 | College decision day is usually the super exciting moment. Education reporter Danielle Douglas |
| 1:49.5 | Gabriel spoke to our editor, Alexis D. Howe, about why this year for many people, it's not so much. |
| 1:57.0 | Danielle, you've been writing about how the last few years college decision day is a little different. |
| 2:03.2 | People are not enrolling so much. Can you tell me about that? Enrollment has been pretty |
| 2:08.1 | tepid in some parts of the countries and certainly with certain types of schools. Community |
| 2:12.5 | colleges have seen a pretty significant decline in enrollment. So have regional publics. Those are |
| 2:17.8 | not the flagship ones schools, but definitely like all of the kind of secondary public institutions |
| 2:25.2 | that really do the heavy lifting when it comes to educating folks in this country. They're not |
... |
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