New life for the great American university education?
University education has long been both scorned and desired in America. L. Frank Baum’s classic The Wizard of Oz lampooned college students—both their failure to use their brains while thinking “great thoughts” and their laziness. Yet for most Americans, college was part of the American dream. Whether it was in the great Ivies, the small, religious colleges dotting the Midwest, or the land grant universities across the land, Americans found intellectual challenge, lifelong friendships, and preparation for life as citizens, professionals, and, often, religious believers. With infusions of European intellectuals and financial resources from a racing economy after World War II, American universities became the envy of the world.
But we all know the rot that grew inside them. In 1951, William F. Buckley lamented left-liberal and anti-religious bias at his alma mater in God and Man at Yale. Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind decried relativism in the university in 1987. Jeremiads, lamentations, depressing studies, and exposés have multiplied since then.
The drastic leftward politicization, racial discrimination against Asian and white students because of DEI mandates, dumbing down of studies, and drastic increases in costs at American universities these days are well known. Articles now appear regularly about parents and students questioning the value proposition.
It’s all true. And, yet, despite the continuing folly, we may well be looking at the early signs of a new springtime in American higher education. These include political changes, new opportunities, and new initiatives that will embolden other innovators.
Policy Shifts
It has been devoutly wished on the American right since Ronald Reagan that the Department of Education (DOE) be abolished. That consummation may yet happen under a second Trump administration. Abolition or even serious shrinkage would free higher education from the grip of a regulator that has both pushed destructive policy guidance (think the “Dear Colleague” letters pushing unfair Title IX procedures) with the threat of withholding federal funding for those rejecting it and required countless administrators to deal with DOE reporting and compliance. The spectacular growth in highly paid higher ed administrators could be arrested and even reversed.
New Trump executive orders banning DEI will pressure universities’ pernicious ideological corruption of teaching and research. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) audits of federal grant agencies may spur new executive action turning research money away from ideologically mandated topics and conclusions. Universities may shed (often exorbitantly paid) DEI administrators in student affairs. They may also decide a faculty political spectrum ranging from left to far left needs expansion.
Finally, changes in many government and corporate policies removing the demand that new hires possess bachelor’s degrees will itself yield fruit. As long as university education is seen simply as a union card or social credit chit necessary to get a job, universities will be pressured to pump out graduates—whether they learned anything or not. Without such requirements, many universities will feel freer to raise expectations both for admission and for graduation to gain students who will be excellent and not just serve as pass-throughs for federal loan money.
New Opportunities
Because American births dropped sharply in 2008, a corresponding enrollment cliff looms in 2026. Because of aforementioned problems, however, student numbers have been dropping for several years. Thirty colleges closed in 2024; eight more have announced closures in 2025 already, with more to come. This trend will likely accelerate and create opportunity.
First, market pressures will cause at least some institutions to evaluate what is working. While universities and colleges are neither nimble nor willing to make quick changes, necessity may prove the mother of academic inventiveness. Religious institutions that have shucked off their religious and liberal arts identities may rediscover them. Those who have been dying from ideology may discover excellence draws more students.
Second, there is the opportunity for creative mergers. Successful institutions may be able to take over failing ones. Universities that are working well can leverage already existing administrative infrastructure and brand recognition to turn moribund institutions into lively satellite campuses. This has happened already to many smaller colleges in danger of closing.
Third, new institutions are afoot. The infant University of Austin has drawn respectful attention even from old-line media such as 60 Minutes for its attempts to meld classical liberal arts education taught by a faculty from all over the political spectrum with a focus on the practical. For example, students work on a capstone project that lasts all four years.
Neither the American dream nor the old college try is dead yet. With new and potential policy changes in the air from Washington and red states, as well as the continued American penchant for experimentation with old forms and new projects, we may yet see again an era of education less politically destructive, more classical, and more practical as well.
David P. Deavel teaches at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. A past Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute and winner of the Acton Institute’s Novak Prize, he is a Senior Contributor at The Imaginative Conservative.
