HPS Magazine

In the days ahead, 125,000 graduating high school seniors will receive automatic acceptance letters from the State University of New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday.

“Access to quality higher education is an engine for social mobility and we are taking comprehensive steps to ensure that college is affordable and accessible for students from all backgrounds,” New York’s governor said in a statement.

Nationwide, college enrollment has noticeably lagged since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when a significant number of students decided against a four-year degree in favor of joining the workforce or completing a certificate program without the hefty price tag or zoom screen.

But a downturn in enrollment was in the works long before 2020.

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“The enrollment crisis didn’t start with the pandemic, it accelerated with the pandemic,” said Hafeez Lakhani, founder and president of Lakhani Coaching in New York. “This is the fuel on the fire.”

In fact, undergraduate enrollment in the U.S. topped out at roughly 18 million students over a decade ago, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Today, there are more than 2.5 million fewer students enrolled in college, Doug Shapiro, executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, estimated.

Population of college-age students is shrinking

Not only are fewer students interested in pursuing any sort of degree after high school, but the population of college-age students is also shrinking, a trend referred to as the “enrollment cliff.”

“There’s a broad-based drop in belief or trust in higher education as an institution,” said Cole Clark, a managing director within Deloitte’s higher education practice and co-author of a recent trends report. “It’s as much of a threat as the demographic cliff.”

These days, only about 62% of high school seniors in the U.S. immediately go on to college, down from 68% in 2010. Those that opt out are often low-income students, who increasingly feel priced out of a postsecondary education.

Steadily, college is becoming a path for only those with the means to pay for it, other reports also show.

Would-be college students are looking more closely at the return on investment as tuition costs remain high and a shortage of workers increases opportunities in the labor force — with or without a diploma.

At the same time, deep cuts in state funding for higher education have pushed more of the costs on to students and paved the way for significant tuition increases.

Costs are still rising. Tuition and fees plus room and board for a four-year private college averaged $53,430 in the 2022-23 school year. At four-year, in-state public colleges, it was $23,250, according to the College Board.

High schoolers are more interested in career training

Most Americans still agree a college education is worthwhile when it comes to career goals and advancement. However, only half think the economic benefits outweigh the costs, according to a report by Public Agenda, USA Today and Hidden Common Ground — and young adults are particularly skeptical.

The rising cost of college and ballooning student loan balances have played a large role in changing views about the higher education system, which many think is rigged to benefit the wealthy, the report found. 

Only 45% of students from low-income, first-generation or minority backgrounds believe education after high school is necessary, according to a study by ECMC Group.

High schoolers are putting more emphasis on career training and post-college employment, the nonprofit found after polling more than 5,000 high school students six times since February 2020.

More than 75% of high schoolers now say a two-year degree or technical certification is enough, and only 41% believe they must have a four-year degree to get a good job, a separate report by Junior Achievement and Citizens also found. 

“A lot of students are weighing their options,” said Connie Livingston, the head of college counselors at college counseling firm Empowerly and a former admissions officer at Brown University.

“Does it make more sense to go to community college, trade school or directly into the workforce? In this economic climate, that’s attractive.”

Earning a college degree is almost always worthwhile

And yet, earning a bachelor’s degree is almost always worthwhile, research shows.

Bachelor’s degree holders generally earn 75% more than those with just a high school diploma, according to “The College Payoff,” a report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce — and the higher the level of educational attainment, the larger the payoff.

But even while degrees deliver a strong premium in the job market, confidence in the higher education system is declining, according to Deloitte’s Clark.

“There is a lot of rhetoric about the individual with a college degree and a ton of debt and underemployed,” he said.

“You are going to continue to see this paradox,” Lakhani added. “There’s a subconscious consensus that it’s only worth going to college if you can go to a life-changing college.”

Mother’s Day Edition

Southern Style Squash serves 6 

3 to 4 large Yellow Squash 

Half a yellow onion

1 sleeve of saltine crackers (crushed)

2 cups of cheddar cheese or Colby Jack cheese 

1 stick of butter 

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

Salt

Pepper 

Wash and cut up squash. 

Boil squash and onions until fork tender.

Drain water from veggies.

Return hot veggies to saucepan.

Mash squash and onions with potato masher or fork until squash is in smaller pieces.

Add crushed crackers, half stick of butter, S&P.

Mix crackers and squash until butter is melted and crackers are soft and mixed in. Add 1 cup of cheese. 

Beat egg and milk together. To make a richer dish substitute milk for Heavy whipping cream.

Grease a glass Pyrex dish, 8×8 or spray with butter flavored Pam. Pour squash mixture into glass dish. Top with remaining cheese. For a fancy topping, add 1/2 cup of bread crumbs and 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Mix well. Top squash casserole with bread crumbs. Top with 1 to 2 tablespoons of butter all across of dish.

Place in a preheated oven 350 degrees. 

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until brown and bubbling and cheese is melted.

Let set for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy

Shalanda Long

Norwegian Almond Bars Recipe | Traditional Almond Shortbread

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Shoppers who bought weighted products at Walmart could be due as much as $500 as part of a $45 million class action lawsuit settlement by the mega retailer.

You need to move quickly, though, if you want to claim some money.The suit, initially filed in 2022 and then later amended, accused Walmart of overcharging customers for weighted goods and bagged citrus at Walmart stores between Oct. 19, 2018, and Jan. 19, 2024.

“Weighted goods refers to variable-weight meat, poultry, pork and seafood products labeled with a price-embedded bar code and designated by Walmart as part of its Department 93 products,” according to Top Class Actions, which tracks class action lawsuits. “Bagged citrus refers to organic oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and navel oranges that were sold in bulk in mesh or plastic bags.

The lawsuit said Walmart’s point-of-sale machines artificially raise the weights of the goods that were marked at a discounted “Rollback” price, causing the total price to be more than the advertised discount.

The retail chain also was accused of advertising and promoting bagged produce weights that were greater than the actual weight of the product, meaning customers paid more per ounce, Top Class Actions said. Sold-by-weight products on clearance with a reduced-price sticker also had a discrepancy between the advertised per-pound price and the final customer-paid price.

Walmart reached a settlement late last year to pay $45 million to customers, while denying any wrongdoing.

Shoppers can file a claim online or via mail, postmarked on or before June 5, 2024.

Walmart, in a statement to CNN, said it “will continue providing our customers everyday low prices to help them save money on the products they want and need. We still deny the allegations, however we believe a settlement is in the best interest of both parties.”

The amount customers can qualify for varies depending on their circumstances, CNN said. They include:

• $10 without a receipt, but a shopper can attest to buying up to 50 weighted goods and/or bagged citrus in-person in a Walmart store during the settlement class period.
• $15 without a receipt or other proof of purchase, but they can attest to buying from 51 up to 75 weighted goods and/or bagged citrus.
• $20 without receipts or proof of purchase, but they can attest to buying from 76 up to 100 weighted goods and/or bagged citrus.
• $25 without receipts or proof of purchase but attest to buying 101 or more weighted goods and/or bagged citrus.
• Up to $500 with receipts or other proof of purchase of each weighted goods and/or bagged citrus purchased in a Walmart store during the settlement class period, customers will receive 2% of “the total cost of the substantiated Weighted Goods and Bagged Citrus Purchased,” up to $500.

Customers can also try to look up their receipts on Walmart’s website.