Washington Examiner
· collected 2026-09-06 · by Timothy P. Carney
American colleges and universities are facing a crisis due to declining enrollment, with the number of college-aged individuals expected to decrease every year for at least the next 18 years. The article argues that colleges themselves have contributed to this demographic nightmare by promoting anti-family and anti-natal cultural trends, such as delayed marriage and childbearing. According to data from the Census, Americans are getting married later: in 2006, the average age of first marriage was 25 for women and 27 for men, but now it's nearly 29 for women and 31 for men. The article notes that this trend is closely tied to increased educational attainment, with more Americans pursuing college degrees and delaying family formation as a result.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-06,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
American colleges and universities are panicking, for good reason.
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colleges → panic → reason
Enrollment across all of academia has been dropping for years, and starting now, there will be fewer and fewer college-aged people every year for the forseeable future.
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Enrollment → drop → future
Colleges are scrambling for a way to survive.
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Colleges → scramble → way
Big schools are slashing their course offerings.
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schools → slash → offerings
Small schools are making desperate plays to find a niche in a shrinking market.
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schools → make → market
The bitter irony is this: American colleges and universities brought this crisis on themselves.
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colleges → bring → themselves
The Baby Bust has a thousand causes, but some of the most significant anti-natal cultural and economic trends were created by America’s colleges and universities.
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some → have → colleges
From anti-family feminism to extended adolescence, through unreasonable expectations and mountains of debt, colleges created conditions that put their own survival at risk by turning out graduates who were indisposed to creating the next generation.
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who → create → generation
In 2007, the public had 4.32 million babies, and a Total Fertility Rate of 2.12 babies per woman — right about the “replacement level” at which a population can hold stable.
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population → have → which
Since then, the number of babies born has dropped nearly every year, reaching 3.61 million in 2025, giving us a Total Fertility Rate of 1.79.
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number → bear → 1.79
We’ve passed Peak Child as a country.
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We → pass → country
The Baby Bust began 18 years ago, which means that last Spring’s high school graduating class was the largest one for the foreseeable future.
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class → begin → future
Basically, every year for at least the next 18 years, the number of potential college freshmen will fall.
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number → fall → freshmen
What has caused the Baby Bust?
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What → cause → Bust
But some of those causes came out of academia itself.
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some → come → academia
Most obviously, young people are starting their adult lives — and their families — later and later every year.
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people → start → lives
In 1990, about 24% Americans aged 25-34 had a college degree.
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Americans → age → degree
Now it’s more than 42%.
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it → ’ → ?
That’s a 75% rise.
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That → ’ → ?
Increasingly, a white-collar job seems to require an advanced degree, which pushes folks into their late 20s before they even enter the workforce.
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they → seem → workforce
Colleges (outside of BYU and a handful of others) make it very clear that one is not to get married or even consider having children until after graduation.
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one → make → graduation
As a tangible sign of this norm, only about 8% of colleges and universities offer housing for students who are parents, according to the Campus Family Housing database.
uncertain
who → offer → database
As a result, Americans are getting married later.
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Americans → marry → result
In 2006, before the Baby Bust, the average age at first marriage was 25 for women and 27 for men according to Census data.
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age → accord → data
That number moves later as educational attainment increases.
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attainment → move → ?
These numbers are medians, which indicates that most Americans make it into their 30s never having been married.
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Americans → indicate → 30s
Waiting longer before starting a family increases the odds that one might never have children (especially because fertility declines throughout one’s 30s), and it mechanically reduces the birth rate simply by spacing out the generations.
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it → wait → generations
Also, college graduates enter adulthood with significant debt.
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graduates → enter → debt
A majority of people with a bachelor’s degree borrowed to pay for it, and the median amount of debt among that majority is over $25,000.
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amount → borrow → majority
All of this leads to later — and thus less — family formation.
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All → lead → formation
Follow the cultural debate on social media, and you will get an insight into the mind of a Gen Z’er who sees family as out of reach.
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who → follow → reach
You will see them complain about a budget that includes food delivery, and then defend themselves by saying that the ability to cook oneself dinner is a privilege, and that it is oppressive to suggest one rely on store-bought Ramen noodles for dinner sometimes.
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one → see → dinner
You will see them react with horror to the idea of sharing a room with a friend or even a sibling.
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them → see → friend
And you will wonder where they got the idea that a normal American in his or her 20s should live a comfortable life.
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American → wonder → life
If your idea of college is rubber chicken on Wednesday nights and chipped linoleum floors in a drafty dorm room, you should update that picture for today.
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you → chip → today
Elite schools and large public universities often look like resorts rather than upscale prisons.
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schools → look → prisons
Subsidized heavily by the federal government, there’s only so much these schools can spend on instruction, so they compete with one another by making the experience more pleasant.
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experience → subsidize → one
One result is 22-year-old graduates accustomed to luxury.
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result → accustom → luxury
If they grew up middle-class or above, they never experienced the temporary poverty that defined college for Gen. X, and defines the years of being newlywed with children in one’s 20s.
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that → grow → 20s
These expectations set by colleges probably delay family formation, because having kids entails financial sacrifices, especially if one has those kids in one’s 20s.
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one → set → 20s
…and 12 more, not listed.
