I’ve been both a professor and now an administrator in higher ed. I can give you some perspective.
But know this—tuition increases because funding from states is less and less each year. This isn’t the politics board, so we won’t go into that. Also, paying for just basic stuff costs a ton of money—IT infrastructure, keeping a campus clean and maintained, the damn light bills, lawsuits, faculty COLA (which sometimes doesn’t even apply to administrators), plus other stuff I don’t think many people think about when it comes to just running the actual institution. Some of those jobs, institutions can’t even fill because they either don’t pay well, aren’t hybrid, or don’t allow for a good work/home balance.
When I taught, I had a ton of Workforce students who were in my Public Speaking and Interpersonal Communications classes. Most of them didn’t understand why they had to take my class, but after the first few lectures, you could see it click. One Workforce guy was getting his certificate for being an electrician, I believe, and he told me after class that my class was the only one he looked forward do and he didn’t even want to be an electrician. His dad was making him do that.
I haven’t caught up on the entire thread, so the topic may have changed a bit. From my research over the last few years, yes the tuition price tag and not wanting debt has a factor in why enrollment has declined since 2019, but that’s not the most major reason. Other factors include mental health, having to take care of their families, and needing to work to pay bills. These students still want a degree, but they don’t think they can do it because of those reasons.
And Black and Latino Males have the lowest completion, success, and persistence rates at pretty much every college, community college, and university in the country.