The title of this post is a line from an interesting report from NPR which is excerpted below. The higher ed bubble cometh.

The Crisis In The ‘Ivory Tower’

A trillion dollars in debt. Financial outlook downgraded. Skyrocketing prices yet falling or stagnant revenue for 40 percent of the sector. Government threatening to increase regulation.

By the standards of Wall Street, higher ed is in deep trouble.

But, of course, the university isn’t held to the standards of Wall Street — or not just those. It’s also the place for laboratories full of new research and libraries full of great books and football stadiums full of cheering fans. Most importantly, it’s central to the American dream — a promise, backed with significant public support, that every kid who works hard and plays by the rules will have a chance to succeed. Which is why the turmoil today in higher ed feels like such a betrayal.

Ivory Tower, a opening in theaters next month, attempts to unpack that complexity. Turmoil is nothing new to filmmaker Andrew Rossi. His previous film, , explored another troubled American institution.

“When I began thinking about an investigation into the value of college, one of the key inspirations was the theme of disruption, driven by the promise of Massive Open Online Courses [MOOCs] and the crisis in student loan debt,” Rossi says. He wondered when the higher education dream began to curdle, and why.

“How could it be that wealthy, levelheaded entrepreneurs like ? Could the state of teaching and learning on campuses have become so out of whack?”