The University Degree Is Losing Its Lustre

It's the employment market waking up to the lack of value of the universities' credentialing. The universities themselves don't have a competitive market to speak of, because their customers are so heavily subsidized† that their income is still rising, despite the drop in value of their services.

The universities themselves may react to market demand, if subsidies for their services decline, but it's also possible for subsidies to increase, despite the lack of value, as is often the case for a declining industry with a significant political presence.

† Student loans may be repayed by the recipient, but they are not granted based on the market value of the loan, so they act as much like a subsidy as student loans paid by third parties.

Nothing discussed is addressing the true value of a university degree to those who are often the ones paying, i.e. wealthy parents. Universities provide those parents a socially acceptable strategy to get their pothead gamer sons out of their too-comfortable basement, and keep their silly daughters from getting pregnant by that cute lower-class clerk at the local WaWa. With a general bump in overall status for the family to boot. For those parents, universities are still a great value proposition.