I’ll bet it is just about ready to pop. Kids and parents are getting on to the fact that it just isn’t worth it.
It absolutely is ready to pop. My grandkids go to several different types of high schools - fancy private, diocesan, public - so I get to see my grandkids mix with kids from all different levels of income. Here's the surprising thing - the upper middle class/ rich kids' parents aren't playing anymore. Those kids are following the money to colleges they can afford to pay in full with no loans. These are families probably making between 250k - 650k each year. Many of them are spending 20 grand each year on high school. But then they go and send their kids to schools like Penn State, Pitt, or St. Joe's (where the kid has a huge merit scholarship).
I was at a grandson's basketball game (fancy private schools) and was talking with a father in the stands about college tuition. This man starts talking about ROI for college. His kid actually got into Cornell and UPenn but he had decided on taking a full ride at St. Joe's. The father said when he sat down and figured it out, it costs colleges somewhere around 30 grand (give or take) to feed, house, educate, and still make a fair little profit off a kid. So that's what the Dad told his son was the limit he'd pay each year. The kid could've gone to Pitt or Penn State, but preferred the atmosphere at St. Joe's. The dad laughed that now some poor other suckers were paying for his kid.
Here are my other observations: Smart but lower middle class kids don't pay anything so the sky's the limit for them. The average lower middle class student is beginning to realize that a college degree is not a ticket to financial security and so are avoiding high debt like the plague. The more middle class kids are the only ones still taking out massive loans to cover 60k tuition bills and I figure it's not going to be long until they see the light. A few too many deeply indebted cousins working at the Gap is going to be the needle for this bubble. Unless the stupid government interferes, which it probably will.