News Summary

• The number of teenagers graduating from American high schools peaked last year.
• The trend is more of a downward slope than an abrupt falloff, but the gradient is steep.
• The United States currently has about 4,000 colleges.
• About 60 are closing on average each year; that number could double in any given year if the bottom falls out of enrollment.
• In all, 38 states are projected to see a drop in the number of graduates.
• Only 10, most of them in the South, will experience growth.