Comment by insane_dreamer

> I don't see any reason why we should expect any given school to so dramatically transform itself just because college became the default path for the middle class.

because most other schools, except the elitist schools, have

> just because college became the default path for the middle class

actually, that's not the case; college enrollment, as a percentage of high school grads, is the lowest it's been since 2006 and has only risen 10% in the past 50 years -- and that includes enrollment at community colleges

meanwhile the US population has grown 60% in the same period

US college age (20-24) population has grown from 16.5M in 1970 to 23M in 2022

so that means that elite colleges are serving an ever-shrinking share of the college population; and if you factor in the explosion in foreign undergrads in the past 50 years, top colleges share of US college population is even smaller

> a need for more facilities (including land for those facilities that may not be contiguous with the rest of campus, which creates additional overhead of its own)

have you taken a look at the endowments of elite colleges recently?