Twenty years of massive investments have been made by colleges to build fabulous sports facilities, luxury dorms, and gourmet cafeteria's all for the purpose of the "Show"...to showcase its campus beauty to prospective student-families upon their visits.

It has served to create the "Illusion" of its grandeur, the "Glamour" of its presence, and the "Prestige" of its association. 

Along the way, it succeeded in drawing families into the emotional-commitment of a financial decision over that of a rational-commitment to protect one's best interest.

The colleges have become increasingly reliant on families willing to take on exorbitant debt to finance the college's investment strategy.

POOF...the year 2020 will go down in history as the year that blew up the illusion and changed it all.

Dorm rooms, cafeteria's, sports fields all sit empty now. Student-return rates will be vastly lower come the fall no matter if campuses are opened up or not, no matter how fancy the dorms and cafeteria are, and no matter how beautiful the sports facilities look.

Those items will no longer be the driver to college decisions. Rather, the quality and delivery of affordable college education combined with creating real-world job opportunities will be what earns a family's trust and decision to attend a college.

The complete transformation of this will take ten years. Many colleges will shutter, others will prosper. We'll see who's on top of their game as things change going forward. College for a 7th grader today will look much different than it has up until now...welcome to The Roaring 20's!

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