College is a ‘Racket’ - By the Numbers …
“Higher education” might be as big a scam as the Military Industrial Complex and the Science/Medicine Complex.
At some point in the future, I’m going to risk upsetting my friends who work in higher education and publish an essay where I’ll argue that college or “higher education” is probably one of the great rackets of American life.
The main theme of this essay will be that large percentages of students who are paying exorbitant tuition and accruing massive debt don’t actually need a diploma to excel in the vast majority of jobs.
Another point I’ll try to quantify is that the Higher Education Complex is probably larger than the equally spurious and massive Military Industrial Complex and Science/Medicine Industrial Complex.
Before writing this essay, I performed my “due diligence” research.
The data below is presented in a “By-the-Numbers” format. Indeed, today’s project already supports my thesis that “higher education” is one of the largest industries in the world.
A note about sources …
Many of the figures presented below were gleaned from posing basic questions on Google, with the answers immediately provided by Google’s AI. Other figures come from website links provided by Google.
It also occurs to me that, not that long ago, such a research project would have required days of tedious research in a college or public library. The amazing features of AI made me realize that huge numbers of students might already be using AI to help them pen their own research papers and/or help them produce a fact-heavy research paper.
I will say that this homo sapien “contrarian citizen journalist” came up with all the questions and the summary information I’m sharing with fellow human beings today.
Important Disclaimer:
I should emphasize that while I think higher education has largely become a “racket,” this does not mean I think college can’t be beneficial to many students who are sincerely interested in obtaining a classical education.
I also acknowledge that college can be and long has been a positive and enriching experience for millions of previous students, including current students. In my opinion, all colleges aren’t equally bad and college can provide meaningful or important life experiences.
That is, college is not necessarily a “rip-off” for every student.
I also know that many important and dedicated professors still teach at colleges, although, in my opinion, the most important or significant members of academia have increasingly been censored and treated as dissident outcasts.
Number of colleges and students …
6,000 - Approximate number of colleges and universities in the United States, encompassing both degree-granting and non-degree-granting institutions. This includes four-year universities, two-year schools, and community colleges.
120 - Per my extrapolation, average number of colleges in each U.S. state.
6,354 students - The average college size in the U.S., according to a 2020 survey by the U.S. News & World Report. “However, this number can vary significantly, with some institutions having only a few hundred students while others have over 60,000, notes BigFuture from College Board.
75,000 - Total enrollment at Arizona State University, America’s largest college.
11.6 million - Number of students (aged 16 to 24) who were attending college in America (at a physical campus) in 2023.
4.9 million - students taking college classes exclusively online. (See below for more info).
1,126,690 - Number of international students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities, according to the Institute of International Education. Note: This represents about 5.9% of the total U.S. student population.
18.8 million - total number of college students attending classes at campuses and working on degrees via online instruction.
Percentage of high school graduates who attend at least some college …
62.8 percent - Approximate percentage of U.S. high school graduates (aged 16 to 24) who were enrolled in a college in October 2024. Note: In 1960, approximately 45.1% of American high school graduates enrolled in college.
37.7 percent - As of 2022, the percent of the U.S. population aged 25 and above who had graduated from college or another higher education institution.
7.7 percent - Percent of the U.S. population who had graduated from college in 1960.
Labor force employed by Higher Education …
4.7 million - estimated number of Americans who were employed in higher education as of July 2022, per The Chronicle of Higher Education.
23.5 million - Total number of Americans who attend college (or take college classes online) and work at a college.
200 million - Estimated population of Americans age 18 to 70.
11.75 percent - Percentage of Americans aged 18 to 70 who either attend college or work at a college.
4 to 1 - Ratio of college students to college employees, extrapolated from above-cited figures. (Math: 18.8 million students/4.7 million college employees).
***
44 percent - Percentage of jobs that required a college degree in 2021. Note: Down from 51 percent a few years earlier.
Average salaries of a college professor …
$97,762 - Average salary of a full-time professor, according to one survey. (Source is here).
$80,507 to $174,080 - From Google AI, the range of an average salary of a college professor. Note: Salary figures do not include health and retirement benefits.
$306,165 - Average salary of a college president, according to Salary.com. Note: “Top earners can make between $3 million and $8 million annually” (source: Google AI).
Professors stay in their jobs for many decades. One cost-saving work-around for colleges: Hire ‘part-time’ professors …
37 percent - Percent of college faculty members who are 55 or older (compared to 22 percent of employees in the general population. (Source is here).
50 percent - the percentage of full-time faculty members in the United States older than age 50. Note: “This fraction more than doubled between 1969 and 2005, increasing from 23 percent to over 50 percent.” (Source is here - from a blog article written in 2008, citing the New York Times.)
$93,135 - Average salary or income for a retired professor in the USA as of 2025. (Source is here). Note: Google AI couldn’t answer my question: “How many retired professors are there in America?”
48 percent - As of the fall 2021, “nearly half (48%) of faculty were employed part-time.” (Source: Google AI).
Tuition figures …
$10,940 - Average annual tuition for an in-state student at a public 4-year college.
$28,240 - Average annual tuition at a public college for “out-of-state” students.
$38,421 - Average annual tuition at a private college. Note: According to PBS, “private school tuition at some 4-year-colleges costs $90,000/year.”
Note: Tuition prices do not include room and board, books, fees, etc.
Info on the full “cost of attending college”
(Source for this section is here).
$38,270 - Average annual cost of attending college “including books, supplies and living expenses.”
This is a very big number …
$443,932,000,000 ($444 billion) - Money that 11.6 million on-campus students spend to attend college every year. Note: This figure does not include tuition for 4.9 million online students. Also, this figure does not include the salaries and benefits of 4.7 million college workers, nor maintenance, debt service and miscellaneous operational costs of 6,000 colleges.
Per Google AI, “total expenditures for US degree-granting postsecondary institutions were $702 billion in 2020–2021, which adjusted for CPI inflation would equate to $836 billion in 2025.
***
$58,623 - Amount the average private, nonprofit university student spends per academic year living on campus. Note: $38,421 of this figure is “tuition and fees.”
$27,146 - The average cost of attendance for a student living on campus at an in-state, public 4-year institution per year. $108,584 - Average cost of attending college for four years for an in-state student at a public college.
$45,708 - Average cost of attendance per year for “out-of-state students” at public, 4-year-colleges.
$182,832 average expense of attending college for four years as an “out-of-state” student.
$58,628 - Annual average cost of attending college at a private, nonprofit university.
$234,512 - Average cost of attending a private college for four years.
Most students need more than 4 years to graduate and 40 percent never graduate …
41 percent - Approximate percentage of students who complete their degrees in 4 years.
59 percent - Percentage of students who need more than four years to earn a degree.
60% - Approximate percentage of students who complete their college degree within six years, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
40 Percent - Percent of college students who have not earned a college degree six years after taking their first college classes.
Student debt statistics …
85.2 percent - Each year, percentage of of new undergraduates who borrow money to pay for college.
$7,709+ - the average amount a first-time, full-time student borrows in federal loans to attend school.
$38,375 - Per former student, average federal student loan debt.
$2,636 - Amount of interest student borrowers pay each year.
20 - Number of years the average student borrower needs to pay off their college loans.
$35,000 to $42,000 - Annual income college students aged 18 to 24 might have made per year if they were working full-time instead of going to college full-time.
$562,868 - From the above-cited source: “Considering lost income and loan interest, the ultimate price of a typical bachelor’s degree may be as high as $562,868.”
The key claim - the money claim - underpinning the Higher Education Complex …
“$1 million or more” - According to Google AI, the “value” or “premium” of a college degree over a lifetime (compared to citizens who have only a high school degree).
Editorial comment: This is THE statement/claim used to justify an “investment” in college. However, few if any studies have been done to ascertain how much a person who graduated from college would have earned if the same person had not gone to college or earned a college degree. (This thought exercise highlights an “unknown unknowable.”)
Also, the statistic cited above that 44 to 51 percent of jobs require a college degree makes it impossible for millions of talented and smart people to have the opportunity to work in higher-paying professions. This begs the question of whether non-college graduates have been the victims of massive discrimination for decades.
College tuition greatly exceeds CPI rate of inflation …
75 percent or more - Percentage increase of tuition at four-year public universities each decade from the 1970s through the 2000s, according to one analysis identified in this research project.
Note: Extrapolating from this statistic, inflation of college tuition has been 7.5 percent per year, while “official” CPI inflation since 1970 has averaged approximately 3.92 percent per year in the same time period (Source: Google AI).
According to BestColleges.com, “Over the past few decades, college tuition and fees have consistently outpaced the CPI. For example, one analysis found that college tuition increased twice as fast as the CPI over a 20-year period.”
39 percent - CPI inflation from September 2002-September 2022.
68 percent - Tuition inflation in roughly the same time period.
$243 - Annual cost of tuition at a 4-year public college in 1963. (Note: $243 was the equivalent of $2,489 in 2024 currency values.)
Pell Grant Statistics …
34 percent - Approximate percent of undergraduate students in the United States who receive a Pell Grant, according to Education Data Initiative.
6 million - Approximate number of students who received a Pell Grant in the 2022-2023 academic year, according to Federal Student Aid. Note: “This number has fluctuated over the years, with a notable decline from 2010-2014, when roughly half of undergraduates received Pell Grants, to 39% in 2022, according to BestColleges.com."
$4,491 - Amount of the the average Pell Grant award.
$6,895 - Maximum amount an individual can receive from a Pell Grant per year.
72 - Percentage of African American students who receive/qualify for Pell Grants.
34 - Percentage of white students who receive Pell Grants.
39 - Percentage of Pell Grant recipients who came from families whose income falls between $20,001 and $50,000.
Enrollment growth at one State University (The University of Alabama)
(Source here). Notes:
57.7 - Percentage of current UA students who are from out of state, meaning the majority of Alabama students are not Alabama residents … Nick Saban was hired as Alabama’s football coach in 2006.
UA student enrollment by the year:
2024: 40,846
2020: 37,842
2010: 30,232
2006: 23,878
2000: 19,318 (Note: Enrollment declined by 2.6 percent in one decade)
1990: 19,828
1983: 15,993. Note: When I was a freshman at UA.
1958:7,586: Note: When my father was a freshman at UA.
1925: 4,334. Note: When Alabama won its first Rose Bowl
1860: 137: Note: Eve of the Civil War.
1831: 94: First year the college was open
More colleges are now closing …
81 - Since March 2020, the number of public or private nonprofit colleges in the U.S. that have closed, merged, or announced closures or mergers. (Source: Google AI query).
300 - Approximate number of colleges and universities that offer an associate degree or higher that closed between 2008 and 2023. (Source is here). Note: “For-profit operators ran more than 60 percent of those colleges and universities.”
28 - Number of degree-granting institutions that closed in the first nine months of 2024.
15 - Number that closed in the 12 months of 2023.
Note: Troy University, my alma mater, recently closed its Phenix City campus/college.
Huge and growing numbers of students are now taking college classes exclusively on-line …
26 percent - Approximate percentage of college students who were enrolled exclusively in online courses in the fall of 2022.
4.9 million - Out of a total of 18.8 million students taking college classes, the number taking classes via the Internet and not attending “bricks-and-mortar” buildings on a college campus, according to BestColleges.com and EducationDynamics.
54 percent - Percentage of college students who were taking at least one on-line class in a recent year.
72,096 - Online enrollment of The University of Phoenix, the largest on-line college in the country. Note: 99.1 percent of students take classes on-line. The University of Phoenix’s enrollment is only 3,000 fewer than Arizona State, the largest “traditional” college in the country.
$9,360 - Annual tuition at the University of Phoenix for 2025-26 academic year (includes all books, supplies and fees).
$12,223 - Annual tuition at Arizona State University for in-state tuition (figure does not include other fees, housing, etc).
$33,139 - Tuition at Arizona State for out-of-state students (not including room and board and miscellaneous fees).
In Conclusion …
I would like to extend a special thanks to Google AI for its assistance with this research project. College students are welcome to cite this article in any future term papers they may write developing the thesis that “higher education” is a massive, money-making racket.
I’d also be interested in learning what grade such papers might get from their professors.
As I've pointed out in previous articles, I make less money as a freelance independent Substack journalist than most 20 year-old full-time employees at McDonald's. This creates a psychological condition known as "financial stress."
At different points in my life, I've thought of getting a real job that I know I could be good at. One such job would be as a high school teacher, where I think I would excel teaching, say, history, social studies, maybe English, journalism, economics, government, etc. I could even help coach some athletic teams since I played all of the major sports growing up.
Alas, I can't even be considered or get a job interview because I don't have a "college education degree." I'd have to go back to college for a year or two and get the piece of paper that says I'm qualified.
Personally, I think this is a job protection racket for teachers who don't want any citizen with applicable real-world experience and expertise to compete for these jobs.
One figure in this story is that 1.26 million college students in America (5.9 percent) are from other countries. Months ago a subscriber gave me a fascinating news tip and story idea. This subscriber works (or worked) for a company that has to gauge the proficiency of international students in the English language, which apparently is a criteria for admission at many colleges.
My source tells me that most of these jobs are being farmed out to people who don't speak English as a first language! Like people from India. (This Texas native said she will soon lose her job and is actually training her foreign replacements!)
I didn't know part of the "higher education complex" was companies that are supposed to assess international students' abilities in English.
This is a big deal when you think about the money involved for colleges that suck in all of this "out of state" tuition.
I apologize to my source for not writing up this excellent story yet. She sure has been patient with me. I'll try to write it up soon.