Why the Shrinking Number of US Colleges Is a Good Thing

Higher Education Number of the Day: 4,400

There are approximately four thousand four hundred degree-granting colleges in the United States as of 2018 (the last time NCES conducted their national study). This number is interesting for a couple of reasons.

First, it signifies that over 1,000 colleges have been added to the marketplace since the 1980s. That’s an incredible rate of growth. At least 2 brand new universities have started operating in America every month for the last 40 years.