So It’s Come To This: The End of College as We Know It

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So, let me throw a conspiracy out there…a growing American trend is to cast off the traditional (at least for the past thirty or forty years, especially since HOPE scholarships and the like) pathway of thirteen years of school followed by four to seven or more years of university or college education, student loan debts, and earning degrees that find you no more prepared for a job and the real world than the diploma you received from a high school.

Meanwhile, business is booming within the ovals that adorn every campus, where football programs play. Media rights, NIL, expanding playoffs, and the entertainment value of a “college” football program is becoming more appealing than the college itself.

I’d say that’s been a longer trend than just recently, but hang with me.

So, the powers that be (Mickey Mouse, Greg Sankey, Jimmy Sexton, Nick Saban, etc…) see the writing on the wall and realize that there’s a need for college football to continue to thrive even if the college itself is eroding. The college is less of an institution and more of a brand. As the college football brand grows, the amateurism that was supposed to get a piece of the NIL pie starts to get whittled away. The players and programs cost too much money with too little return. NCAA and Title IX be damned.

The fat doesn’t just get trimmed from the “Olympic Sports”, either:

They’re not talking about sports programs, either.

Now I know what you’re thinking…this is probably not a terrible thing. After all, why let your 18 year old kid leave home and go upside down in debt to earn a degree in Therapeutic Animal Yoga Studies just to come back home and live in the basement while working at Starbucks, amirite? Maybe the “fat” are programs with little academic merit in the first place, right? Keep your law and medical schools, business and pharmacy schools, etc., but make the offerings lean and 21st century relevant.

I’m all for it.

But what’s really going on? Let’s start up the road at Anderson Community College:

As previously reported by FITSNews, Clemson’s debt has climbed to approximately $1.15 billion while long-term liabilities have surged to roughly $2.65 billion. At recent board meetings, trustees openly criticized university leadership for failing to bring expenses under control, with some pushing for aggressive cuts while others warned the university lacked a coherent long-term reform strategy.

It was during that period of financial pressure that internal audit findings raised additional concerns about Clemson’s handling of PSA budgets.

Documents reviewed by FITSNews indicate auditors warned of a “potential conflict” involving consolidated spending targets between PSA and CAFLS due to statutory restrictions tied to certain PSA funding sources. The same materials stated PSA funding “should support all PSA functions” and warned PSA budgets “should not be suppressed to meet consolidated spending targets.”

Those findings closely mirrored concerns raised internally by PSA officials, who feared regulatory and public service operations were being caught in the middle of Clemson’s broader budget crisis.

According to emails and audit materials reviewed by FITSNews, some Clemson personnel believed funds tied to legally mandated PSA operations were effectively being treated as part of a larger institutional balancing strategy — despite statutory restrictions governing how portions of that money could be used.

Shorter: probably poor financial planning, alongside dwindling state and federal funding contributions, and strains from usual institutional funding from donors who may now be streaming their contributions to pay for NIL.

But what about Duke?

At the forefront of top political adviser Stephen Miller, Trinity ‘07, and Trump’s agenda was mandating universities axe diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, limit international student enrollment and decrease their reliance on federally funded research. The administration also changed student loan policies, cut Medicaid reimbursement rates and increased the tax rate universities would have to pay on their endowment. 

For institutions like Duke that operate both a University and a Health System, the lapses in federal funding cut key revenue streams. In response, Duke enacted a $364 million cost-cutting program, becoming one of the first universities to trim its personnel pool amid the federal funding changes and one of the institutions with the largest budgetary cuts.

The program has produced $229 million in savings across Duke’s departments and schools for the fiscal year 2026 budget, according to a September Academic Council presentation by Executive Vice President Daniel Ennis and Rachel Satterfield, vice president for finance and treasurer. The goal, though, is to reduce its expense base by $350 million by 2030, which Duke aims to accomplish by saving an additional $47 million in each of the next two years, another $30 million in fiscal year 2029 and $11 million the year after. That leaves Duke with $364 million saved — $14 million above its initial target.

Note: this is not a Playpen post; rather, it’s just some insight into a rising narrative that NIL is ruining everything.

As I explored other examples of this, it seems to point back to poor planning or being surprised by federal cuts and changes to regulations that colleges and universities once thrived from. As I mentioned earlier in the offseason about FSU, it seems that, in cases, that aggressive desires to expand, met with state and federal cut backs, and not being helped by trends in sports funding, is creating a serious financial strain with colleges.

In Indiana, cuts came from a state law to cut or consolidate programs that generated a low number of graduates. That makes sense. Syracuse cut programs to align more with student demands. UNC Chapel Hill is cutting six of their area research centers, which don’t generate many graduates, either, but serve as research centers for existing faculty and their staff.

In other words, the golden age of housing the “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach” and university researchers that was being funded on the backs of increasing tuition and upticks in government funding is over. Time to get lean, in other words.

I subscribe to the idea that society (I think I gleaned this from Sociology at UGA) swings like a pendulum, periods of lean and periods of glut. Seems there was a period of glut that they were enjoying (noting the rise of cost of colleges when someone told me how much they were shelling out for it gave me a minor heart attack the other day) and they didn’t foresee the lean.

In other words, NIL isn’t THE problem, but keeping up with the Joneses and maintaining the media footprint and impression isn’t helping, either. Funny how we can’t fund a research center for educational purposes but we can pony up forty million dollars in a heartbeat to see ninth-year seniors earn a million dollars and win a National Championship while they are older than 40% of NFL rosters.

I didn’t come here to study anything, anyway.

So, do I still think that the powers that be are meeting at the Bohemian Grove and planning to fracture college football programs from the NCAA and colleges altogether?

I mean, probably. Hell if they could completely break away from the NCAA they wouldn’t be shy about telling you that was the plan all along.

But to break from the school altogether for the sake of profiteering?

Nah. Those ratings don’t come from fair weather fans who just decided to start watching Georgia football, after all. If that were the case, the passion would be lost and the ratings you see from the B1G and the SEC wouldn’t exist if you removed the school from the equation. The school is a part of the equation, and the uniqueness that separates college football from the NFL would be lost without it.

If you don’t believe me, watch the UFL.

Now whether they care about the school or not is a whole other thing, but, for now, I believe that college football will remain attached and committed to the school. They just don’t care if you cut the Research Center for Slavic, Eurasian, or Eastern European studies.

And you probably won’t either.

61 thoughts on “So It’s Come To This: The End of College as We Know It”

  1. 2 points- 1 -the ratio of full time salary employees to students at UGA is 1 to 4. Ridiculous number. The university is an employment center for way too many. King Adams rode the wave of spending too much on landscaping and new buildings as well. The tuition is 6 times what it was when I graduated, inflation adjusted should be a doubled tuition today.

    2- do away with football scholarships and let the players pay for school with NIL income. No scholarships limits, if you’re in school you can play.

    BTW – yall notice how it’s very rare for a player or incoming recruit to be academically ineligible? In the 80s and 90s ever big school had 5-10 each year fall out. Wonder why?

  2. Colleges in general do a terrible job of cost management. Between HOPE and college loans, money has been shoveled at them at an unheard of rate. All that cash has to go someplace, why not useless administrators, obscure and/or useless degree programs, and things no one would consider a wise use of resources.

    It seems that they only ask if they can, but rarely if they should. UGA in particular was a much more interesting place when it had in state geographic and intellectual diversity. Adams wanted to flood the zone with out of state students (love the extra tuition) and girls from North Atlanta. When the cost of attendance is somewhat separated from the pain of paying (HOPE covers it. Loans cover it) costs go up without much push back from customers, they keep going up. When said customers graduate and have to start paying to loans back, suddenly the idea of value kicks in. Too late for the customers to affect school costs, and the schools tut tut but keep taking the| money of new kids.

    Spending 200k or more to get a job paying 50 or 60k seems like a big hole to dig out of. It isn’t just UGA, of course. But I wonder if they even teach math any more? I could work a whole summer, save my money, and have enough to pay my tuition for a year if I lived frugally. Can’t do that now. Not even close.

    • State funding of Georgia colleges has been reduced and reduced.

      The costs of running the University System of Georgia is barely outpacing inflation.

  3. When HOPE came on the scene, the regents were basically given a blank check to raise tuition. The fees and non-tuition costs are incredible per semester. It is hard for me to feel sorry for colleges laying off employees for poor fiscal management.

  4. There should be NO Federal funding for any university. UGA has a 2 billion endowment & Duke’s is more than 12 billion.
    They should charge no tuition at all.
    Bastion’s of mismanagement & entitlement

    • We should return to a time when going to college for most kids was a pipe dream. Leave college to the rich boys I say.

      The world needs ditch diggers too.

    • The collective endowments of just the Ivies could fund college tuition for every college student for a couple years, but the concept would ultimately be short-lived. Federal backing of student loans also led schools to raise tuition rates and get bloated. And that’s before you get to the double-dipping of “retired” professors in CA. The system has run amok, but they know we’ll keep paying.

  6. We’ll have bailed on the whole thing before the collapse and probably end up thanking NIL for being the tsunami we rode our mercury surfboards on.

  7. Back in the mid to late 80s I remember paying around $500-600 a quarter in tuition and fees. Incredible bargain for a solid education, even when adjusted for inflation. What has happened to the cost of higher education since then is an abomination. I can verify having survived putting two kids through college recently. Agree that it is not sustainable.

  8. Academic administration combines the myopia of the ivory tower with the worst business school ideas of 25 years ago. What’s resulted is a money evaporator that’s rewarded institutional leadership and no-one else. Education isn’t the (or arguably even a) priority. Bigger numbers – enrollment, outside funding, brand awareness – that result in bigger pay packages for senior administrators are what fuels the grift.

  9. During a tour of the university last Fall a paradox of the HOPE scholarships was pointed out…it has allowed top scholastic kids from poorer regions of Georgia to attend but they lack the resources to even afford eating. No exaggeration…we’ve got students literally skipping meals to the extent that a donor fund has been established to help them. Georgia in state enrollment is about 85% if I understood my hosts correctly meaning out of state kids have not only a tougher time getting admitted but obviously pay a lot more. While it may feel good to give every B+ Georgia HS graduate the financial assistance to attend UGA and we are certainly grooming the cream of the crop of young Georgia residents there is a lack of geographical diversity that is valuable. I would likely not have been able to attend today, learn southern culture, be part of one of the greatest alumni communities in the nation, etc. instead I’d be a racist, obnoxious loser tOSU alum living on welfare and wondering why the factories all closed while picketing on the union lines.

    Ok…wandered from the topic there. I’m not sure it’s a conspiracy but there is a plan in place by some of those you mentioned to break college football from the economics of the schools. It’s the PE guys on Wall St advising Disney and the streaming services who are begging for content. Their mathematical models have broken everything down with predictions that focus solely on the fastest and highest ROI…not necessarily the best. They will drive growth and revenue in the short term then simply exit when us fans do. No harm to them. This fiscal crisis of budget cutting only paves the way for them to sell “revenue enhancing opportunities” to college presidents and others in charge (including the state capitols) that will generate funds to bridge budget shortfalls in the near term but ruin the long term viability of the sport. It’s happening in every professional sport with only the NFL cartel navigating the waters best but they are all billionaires for a reason.

    • My wife and I contribute to a facebook group called UGA community cares or something to that extent. Sammi Hester is a woman whose husband was one of the 22 veterans that commit suicide daily. I wish everyone that reads this blog would join her effort. The stories from the students that ask for help are gut wrenching. I’m as far from a bleeding heart as one can get but what some of these kids go through makes me lose sleep. And they’re still working towards a degree.

  11. Go to a University and major in underwater basket weaving or go to a trade school and have a stating job paying $100,000.00.You do the math. Cut out all the dumbass majors and make college useful again.

      • No YOU want to decide for us. You are such an ass Derek, if someone doesn’t have the SAME opinion as you they are a moron, Jesus F$%%#%$ christ

        • I really don’t think I’d be qualified to establish a curriculum for a University nor would I be someone who is qualified to say who should and who should not go to college/trade school. My assumption is that the admissions departments will sort that out without my assistance.

          But just like there are many among us qualified to serve as OC for Kirby, there are people who can solve education on the back of a business card.

          Everything is after all so very simple.

          Dunning-Kruger was an asshole.

          • Who is supposed to be qualified to do the curriculum . some liberal professor who’s salary depends on the students?

          • Anonymous,

            I’m quite certain that a selected poster, chosen by lottery, on a sports message board does it.

            That’s how we got underwater basket weaving.

            If it ain’t broke…

    • The 100k right out of trade school is a bit of an exaggeration but I get the gist. I’m sure there are skills that support that in certain areas, but locally by and large a Tech with two years in the field and a two-year certificate from a technical college (not free in most cases) will earn about 50k and top out around 80-100k if they earn an available state license. Hourly Techs that put in overtime do very well, and Techs who take on their own burden for contract work do also. There are exceptions, but managing multiple trades and being competitive for new hires and services this is what I see.
      As far as the “world needs ditch diggers”? (h/t Derek) Of course it does. Tell me what kind of ditch we talking about and I’ll tell you what it will cost. Or dig it yourself champ. Nothing to running a shovel, right?

      • All I am concerned about is whether the person digging comes from modest means or not. We don’t need these poors having kids and thinking they’re going to have free k-12 education and then going off to some fancy university in Athens because the gubmit values their education and people are our greatest resource and we need to invest in them and blah blah fucking blah.

        A bunch of outdated “American dream” horseshit.

        Fuck that. If daddy can’t pay for the books then welcome to a lifetime of illiteracy!

        And ditch digging as God intended by giving you poor parents in the first place.

  12. I’m not a cynical about a college degree, and I do think universities are more than just trade schools (which is ironic since I have an engineering degree). I think learning things for the sake of learning them is a good thing.

    However, I don’t understand with insane tuition costs now how schools are going broke. That Eastern Slavic Studies program must have students or it would get cut. Schools are a business and they offer programs that students want. That is how you wind up with programs in Game Design that are filled to capacity.

    Schools are losing money somewhere. Students are paying more and more for these degrees. So where is the money going?

  13. Send your kid to univ. in Belgium for a better value and better education. Guess what… you get an undergrad degree in 3yrs… most colleagues have their undergrad + masters in 4yrs.
    Europe doesn’t do everything right, but re: education they do it better. just my €0.02.

    • Correct me if I’m wrong Apalach, but don’t most European countries decide the higher educational path around grade 10 for residents? Our driver in Germany explained that by grade 10 you were either on the university path or in trade school, with the trades including basic business classes.

      • Yep. Apparently they have an opportunity- based system that controls for talent.

        Shitty system ain’t it?

        I prefer our sperm lottery program.

        • Not familiar with the “sperm lottery” thing. Can just anybody buy in or they got rules and shit?

          • If the sperm that contributed to your birth exits a dick with money, and the dick claims you as its off spring, then you’ve won the sperm lottery.

            If your pater familias is broke, you lost the sperm lotto.

            Got it got?

          • I don’t think I do. What constitutes a “dick with money”? Loaded question…don’t be boring

      • To clarify, the Belgian government does not control whether your child follows a trades path or college path.

  14. Had a conversation with a department chair some years ago who characterized state universities as having gone from state supported schools to state assisted schools to, now, state affiliated schools. Cuts to education at all levels is an easy target for state legislatures. Didn’t I once read something about a well educated populace being necessary to maintain a healthy democracy?

    • Who the fuck wants a functioning democracy when you can have an unaccountable grift machine instead?

      Doesn’t “of the few, by the few, and for the few” sound better?

      E pluribus fuck ‘em?

      Its a big club, and you ain’t in it.

  15. I’m just curious how little Ole Clemson is going to climb out of 1.15 billion in debt. Holy balance sheet Batman.

  16. Iptay! I pay thirty a year!! Ok. All who believe that, stand in the corner on their head in the corner and lI ‘ll drop a quarter in their ass!!’ One more Uncle Jake ism’s! He was the best!!

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