Last week I wrote a short article about the possibility of our next bubble coming from the world of higher education. As the website HowStuffWorks points out, skyrocketing tuition costs could lead to a backlash and plummeting enrollment.
Most of the article comments, however, leaned toward a slower decline for enrollment, and offered thoughts on other bubbles:
China will be the first bubble to burst. Education is a bubble too, but this one will deflate in slow motion. --zloj
[T]he Asia and related commodities bubble will burst first, and within the next year. Not that these aren't good long-term investments. But they're ahead of themselves. Higher education, like big government, will deflate, but in slow motion -- crushed by out-of-control costs and gradually abandoned by a middle class that's had enough. --neutrinoman
I also do not see a huge, 50%-plus enrollment decline akin to the stock declines seen by the likes of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) in the 2000 tech wreck or Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) in last year's financial meltdown. But even a gradual decline of enrollments in traditional universities could provide a boost for community colleges and the less expensive alternatives -- Apollo Group (NASDAQ:APOL), ITT Educational Services (NYSE:ESI), etc.
What might be the next dramatic bursting? Here's a thought that has some support:
Gold, I think is the next bubble. It is being bought as if it is the solution to our economic crisis. --IsleGirl2010
If you have any thoughts on upcoming bubbles, please express yourself in the comments box below.
