Competing for the young.
Photographer: Mel Musto/Bloomberg
An undergraduate enrollment shortfall at Syracuse University is the latest sign that long-forecast demographic pressures are taking their toll on large and well-known institutions, too. Syracuse laid blame on the declining numbers of high-school graduates and international students — problems universities across the country are grappling with. It should have added another: The steady stream of young families and students leaving the Northeast in search of more affordable living.
It’s this latter problem that will make the struggles of higher education institutions in the Northeast — as well as in the Midwest and on the West Coast — much harder to solve. Substantial declines in the number of high-school graduates are expected in states including New York, Illinois and California over the next decade or so, while states in the South such as Texas and Florida will see growth. Some part of this is due to the continued interstate migration from North to South of families squeezed by cost pressures.