New U?

I’m basically taking the day off — so many good movies to see (if you liked Brad Pitt’s “Inglourious Basterds,” don’t miss Jamie Foxx’s “Django “– and, for that matter, if you liked “Lincoln,” and can handle violence, don’t miss “Django” either . . . they make remarkable companion pieces . . . and if you didn’t like “Lincoln,” or still haven’t seen it, then — seriously — what is wrong with you?) — but hope to tackle a couple of questions from yesterday’s Stocks and Foreplay post Monday.

In the meantime, imagine a world of free-ish higher education — and Harvard with an enrollment of 10 million.  This has a load of implications.  (One use for all those shuttered universities:  Retirement communities!)

The End of the University as We Know It, By Nathan Harden

. . . The most important part of the college bubble story—the one we will soon be hearing much more about—concerns the impending financial collapse of numerous private colleges and universities and the likely shrinkage of many public ones. And when that bubble bursts, it will end a system of higher education that, for all of its history, has been steeped in a culture of exclusivity. Then we’ll see the birth of something entirely new as we accept one central and unavoidable fact: The college classroom is about to go virtual. . . .