How men's volleyball teams are saving struggling colleges in the US

The university system has an enrollment problem

Enrollment has dropped over the past few years—especially for men. In this Freakonomics podcast episode, educators and economists explain why they think college enrollment has been on the decline. They also offer solutions and make predictions for the future of college.

College football generates over $11B annually—but many programs run at a loss

Despite total revenues surpassing $11.5B in 2024, college football’s high operating costs—$14.5B in the same year—mean only a handful of top programs turn large profits, while most run at a loss.

How Title IX changed college basketball

Until Title IX was passed in 1972, the NCAA had little interest in women's sports because it didn't see them as profitable. This article explores how the AIAW was formed to govern women's basketball, and the massive fight the NCAA eventually put up to take over in 1982. Read about the legal battles it took, and how much money women's basketball is bringing to the NCAA now.

Some educators argue society's obsession with colleges at the top of rankings has hurt the US higher education ecosystem

Why are "good colleges" often the ones that accept the fewest students? Speaker Cecilia Orphan argues that society's obsession with colleges that are often private, expensive, and that reject applicants with high frequency has done harm. Instead, she argues, we should focus on regional public universities that meet the needs of students in a cost-achievable manner.

Explaining the rise in adult sports leagues

Community sports leagues shifted from publicly supported entities to privatized ones in the 1990s, as tech advances streamlined registration processes. Millennial interest drove significant growth in social sports leagues for adults, growing much faster than other kinds of sports. A few industry leaders have benefited from this shift.

How Ivy Leagues are worth billions

Ivy League universities manage massive endowments to support their operations—but instead of simply spending donations, they invest them for long-term growth. Yale’s David Swensen helped reshape this approach in the 1980s by diversifying beyond stocks and bonds into private equity, hedge funds, and real estate.

Television transformed college football into a national spectacle

The rise of televised games in the mid-20th century expanded college football’s reach far beyond campus stadiums—turning regional rivalries into national events, boosting revenue, and cementing the sport as a Saturday tradition across the country.

The hidden effects of March Madness

March Madness isn’t just a major sporting event—it’s also peak season for vasectomies. Urologists report a 50% increase during the tournament, as patients use recovery time as an excuse to watch nonstop basketball. Meanwhile, workplace distractions from bracket pools and game streaming are estimated to cost US businesses $17 billion.

Private K-12 schools rely on tuition; colleges rely on funding for research

Tuition, endowments, donors, and grants often fund private schools, allowing them to eschew national curriculum standards. Private colleges and universities also charge tuition, but often rely on federal funding for research.

Explore 25 of the world's richest universities beyond the US

This article from The College Post highlights 25 of the wealthiest universities outside the United States. It showcases institutions like King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the University of Oxford, and the University of Hong Kong. Learn more about the global landscape of higher education funding.

New rules introduced in 2021 let college athletes profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL)

The NCAA’s 2021 policy shift allowed athletes to earn money through endorsements, sponsorships, and personal branding—transforming the college sports landscape and changing the dynamic of what it means to be a student-athlete.

Bizarre college donations and the strings attached

When donors give to a college, they regularly prescribe specific stipulations, typically to fund a professorship in their name in a certain subject. But some of those stipulations are unique, including requiring annual graveside flowers, pet adoption for 150 dogs, or the consistent teaching of Ayn Rand’s "Atlas Shrugged."

The origins of volleyball in a game called mintonette

Volleyball was invented in 1895 in Massachusetts, USA, by William G. Morgan of the YMCA. He aimed to create a less strenuous alternative to basketball, using elements from basketball, tennis, handball, and baseball. Originally called "mintonette," it was introduced at a YMCA conference and took off. Dive into the history from then until today here.

One Connecticut prison is using pickleball for rehabilitation

The Pickleball for Incarcerated Communities League started in 2023 at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Hartford, Connecticut, but has already expanded to other facilities across the state. Inmates say it's been transformative. The program has plans to expand to other states.

Ranking the most popular undergraduate degrees of the last decade

Roughly 2 million Bachelor's degrees are awarded by colleges and universities in the US every year, but within that number there are big shifts in the popularity and decline of certain majors. This data visualization breaks down the biggest gainers...

Play the role of a student as you try to navigate college and remain debt-free

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

Concierge medicine offerings are growing on college campuses, catering to students

Parents are interested in concierge and direct primary care services for their kids, including offerings with dorm visits, guaranteed same-day appointments, and medication access, so new practices have sprung up catering to college settings. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Some athletes warm up with equipment from other sports

Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani uses a cricket bat; his teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws a javelin. Quarterback CJ Stroud shoots free throws. The reasons are partially physical (it's good to exercise different parts of your body) and partially mental (it's nice to take the pressure off with someone else's game).

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

The first federal student loan program began in 1958

As the Cold War heated up, federal officials recognized the need to provide financial aid to students pursuing degrees in areas critical to national security, like science, math, and engineering. These programs evolved to broadly support the general population, both increasing access to college while acting as a driver of increased costs. This six-part series takes a deep dive into the history of federal student aid.

Three Oklahoma athletes were penalized for eating too much pasta at a team banquet

In 2013, Oklahoma athletes lost NCAA eligibility after exceeding a pasta limit at a team banquet—regaining it only after repaying $3.83 each—highlighting how difficult it was to navigate the NCAA’s old amateurism rules.

Why women are underrepresented in VC

Only about 11% of investing partners at venture capital firms are women, according to Harvard Kennedy School research. What’s more, only about 13% of VC dollars go to startups with a woman on the founding team. To learn more about why women are so often sidelined on both sides of the venture capital equation, click here.

The Big Ten is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the US

Established in 1896 with seven members, the Big Ten has expanded far beyond its Midwestern roots. As of 2024, it includes 18 schools—stretching coast to coast from Rutgers in New Jersey to UCLA in California.

Federal subsidies have boosted US fracking profits

Between 2000 and 2020, the US government invested tens of billions of dollars to facilitate the extraction of shale oil and gas reserves. These subsidies helped make new projects viable and kept fossil fuel companies afloat while global energy prices and renewable energy startup costs have fallen.

Eleven deaf men played a pivotal role in America's human spaceflight program

In the mid-20th century, 11 deaf men volunteered for a series of experiments that offered unprecedented insights into the effects of weightlessness on the human body. Most of the men had become deaf in early childhood as a result of spinal meningitis, a condition known to damage the vestibular system and make them less susceptible to motion sickness. For a decade, these men participated in extreme motion sickness situations, including living in a slowly spinning room, spending time in centrifuge pods designed to simulate hypergravity, and flying in parabolic flights sometimes referred to as the "Vomit Comet." (Some users may experience a paywall.)

67 US high school athletes died from exertional heatstroke between 1982 and 2022

Many of those deaths were from football specifically, where student athletes play in hot conditions while wearing heavy protective gear. Few states mandate heat guidelines for school athletes, and this article says that's of increasing concern with more high heat index days.

Experimental hantavirus vaccines and therapies, still under development, have long been funded by the US military.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Volcanoes 'die' when their supply of magma runs out, if they are shifted away from their underlying magma reservoir, or if they get clogged by collapsing or their magma cooling back into rock.