Education: Wanted: More Students

Already skirting bankruptcy, many colleges need more income from tuition and government subsidies. Schools in serious trouble therefore must attract more students, and others must at least maintain stable enrollments. Thus the mood was bearish at many admissions offices last week. Even as college acceptances were being mailed to 3,000,000 high school seniors, various surveys found that applications for next fall's freshman classes at many four-year colleges had declined.

The Association of American Colleges queried 451 of its members, most of them private institutions, and found that only one-fourth had more applicants than in 1972. Similarly, the National Association of State Universities...

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