If we just look at IHEs with under 10,000 undergrads (i.e., most IHEs) it's even clearer how much more common it is to have shrunk over the past 20 years (the pink bar).
Shrinking, of course, is not something most of these places wanted to happen. The ability to grow is a fairly rare privilege.
Saying that highly ranked colleges and universities have grown is not the same as saying they have grown as much as they should have...although that raises the question of how much should they have grown? Not to mention, how much *can* they grow?
There's a school of thought that the "elite" universities should have been massively expanding enrollment to increase access to opportunity.
I think we'll do a lot more good by increasing completion rates at the colleges most people actually attend than by putting a Stanvard campus in Arkansas.
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Shrinking, of course, is not something most of these places wanted to happen. The ability to grow is a fairly rare privilege.
I think we'll do a lot more good by increasing completion rates at the colleges most people actually attend than by putting a Stanvard campus in Arkansas.