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“There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.”

–Plato (427 BC – 347 BC)

US undergraduate enrollment rose last fall for the first time in over a decade, per a twice-yearly report from the National Student Clearinghouse.

But when it comes to higher education, more and more students are having commitment issues. The NSC found an increasing number of students are opting for two-year community colleges (+2.6%) instead of seeking conventional four-year degrees (+0.6%).

• For community colleges in particular, schools focused on vocational programs saw a 16% increase in enrollment – while schools focused on transfers to four-year colleges saw a 0.2% bump.

Some other key insights:

• Older students are driving freshman enrollment. While the number of freshman students aged 20 and below remained flat in 2023, overall US freshman enrollment increased by 0.8% due to a sharp uptick in Americans aged 21 and older signing up for college.
• More high schoolers are dual-enrolling than ever before. Community colleges reported a 5.2% annual increase in high school dual-enrollment, continuing a years-long upwards trend. High schoolers currently account for nearly 1 out of every 5 community college students.
• College demographics are slowly changing. Last fall, undergraduate enrollment increased among all major ethnoracial groups except white (-2.0%) and Native American (-1.0%), while the enrollment gap between genders shrunk slightly (currently 56% female to 44% male).

📸 Big picture: College enrollment historically has been similar to the trajectory of the MCU – exciting at first, but overplayed and stale after a while. Between 1980 and 2010, the percentage of US high-school graduates who attended college rose from 49% to 70%. But then, in the early 2010s, that figure reversed course and began to decline, eventually reaching its current level of 62%, per Labor Department data.

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🇷🇺🇺🇦 A Russian military plane allegedly carrying Ukrainian prisoners crashed near the countries’ border. Russian officials accused Ukraine’s military of shooting down the plane, saying the crash killed all 74 people onboard, including 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers headed for a prearranged prisoner swap. Ukrainian military intelligence said a swap was due to take place, but didn’t immediately confirm or deny Russia’s claims. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he plans to push for an international investigation into the incident. As of yesterday evening, US officials and independent news organizations have been unable to confirm who was onboard the plane, or why it crashed.

🇹🇷🇸🇪 Turkey approved Sweden’s NATO membership bid after a 20-month delay. On Tuesday, the Turkish parliament ratified Sweden’s accession protocol in a 287-55 vote. Turkey initially blocked Sweden's NATO bid in May 2022, saying the country’s government was too lenient toward Kurdish separatists and other terrorist groups. Sweden has since lifted restrictions on defense industry sales, and tightened anti-terrorism legislation. Hungary is now the last country from which Sweden needs approval to officially join NATO, with President Viktor Orbán indicating yesterday that Hungary’s government will soon vote to accept Sweden’s bid.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia opened its first-ever alcohol store. The store, located in the diplomatic quarter of the capital city of Riyadh, debuted as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s multi-trillion-dollar Vision 2030 campaign aimed at attracting tourism and diversifying the Saudi economy away from oil. The store is exclusive to non-Muslim diplomats, and stipulates that patrons 1) attain validation through an app, 2) not use phones or take photos, and 3) be subject to a monthly purchase quota system.

Klarna, the Swedish buy-now-pay-later firm, is launching a monthly subscription aimed at locking in its power users and boosting its IPO prospects, CNBC reports.

The $7.99/month subscription, branded under the creative name “Klarna Plus,” is not able to be paid later but offers benefits like no added service fees when using Klarna’s One Time Card, double rewards points, and access to exclusive discounts with popular brands like Nike, Macy’s, and Instacart. Per CMO David Sandstrom, the offering is a “no brainer” for ~15% of Klarna’s heaviest users.

Why launch it now?... The BNPL provider is nearing an IPO, and Wall Street tends to favor subscription revenue over one-time transactions due to its predictability and compounding effects. The move also comes at a time when BNPL use is skyrocketing.

• BNPL usage hit an all-time high this past holiday season (November-December), rising 14% year-over-year.
• Wells Fargo estimates the five largest BNPL providers originated $46 billion worth of loans last year, up significantly from $2 billion in 2019.

But this level of growth could spell future trouble. BNPL providers often don’t report to credit agencies. So, outside of survey data and what these providers choose to share publicly, not much info exists on the industry. This has created a situation many economists are referring to as “phantom debt,” because no one really knows how pervasive these loans are or how they’re impacting consumers.

🤔 Speaking of consumers… BNPL users tend to be young and well-off – and also more likely to have higher rates of debt and lower credit scores than non-users.

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💬 Quoted… “Let me be clear: This won’t be back to business as usual for Boeing.”

• In a statement published yesterday, the FAA halted Boeing’s planned expansion of its 737 Max aircraft production, but cleared a path for the manufacturer’s grounded 737 Max 9 planes to resume flying pending airline inspections (which aren’t going so hot). The FAA initially grounded most Max 9 models three weeks ago, after a door plug blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight.

🙏 Stat of the Day: More than a quarter of US adults (28%) currently do not have a religious affiliation, per a new Pew Research report. That figure is down from 31% in 2022, but up from 16% in 2007 (the first year Pew tracked such data).

🤔 Did You Know?... Red flags aren’t just for relationships and the Soviet Union. Moody’s Analytics found 21 million “red flags” when assessing shell companies for potential financial crimes last year, including a 942-year-old director and 22,000 businesses supposedly working out of the Egyptian pyramids.

📰 Worth a Read: How pictures have been teaching doctors medicine for centuries → (The Conversation)

• ☝️ The winners of the 21st annual Travel Photographer of the Year contest were unveiled this week, with the top images selected from 20,000+ entries.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Olyra

• 💰 US markets closed mixed (S&P: +0.1%; Dow: -0.3%; Nasdaq: +0.4%); the S&P 500 notched its fourth straight record-high close. | 📈 Microsoft’s market cap crossed the $3 trillion mark for the first time before closing slightly lower.
• 🚘 Tesla reported a 38% increase in global vehicle deliveries in 2023 but warned such growth “may be notably lower” for this coming year; the company also confirmed plans to begin producing a next-gen EV in mid-2025.
• 🌯 Chipotle is hiring 19,000 workers ahead of “burrito season” (March-May), and is offering new benefits to attract younger employees.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 📺 Jon Stewart is returning to The Daily Show as a weekly guest host; he’ll appear on Monday evenings from February 12 though the 2024 election cycle.
• 🏈 Jim Harbaugh is leaving the national champion Michigan Wolverines to accept a head coaching job with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.
• 📰 The Los Angeles Times laid off 115 employees, including ~25% of its newsroom staff.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Scott Kemper Imagery

• 👂🧬 An experimental gene therapy treatment allowed an 11-year-old with congenital hearing loss to hear for the first time, per the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
• 💉 Most patients on a new class of anti-obesity medications – including Ozempic and Wegovy – kept some or all of the weight off up to a year after they stopped treatment; that’s per a new study that included diabetes patients, and not just those using the medication for weight loss.
• 🩸🧠 A new commercial blood test is just as effective at detecting Alzheimer’s as other more expensive and invasive procedures, according to a peer-reviewed study in JAMA Neurology.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🎓 Five of America’s most prestigious universities – Brown, Columbia, Duke, Emory, and Yale – agreed to pay a combined $104.5 million to settle a lawsuit accusing them of colluding to limit students’ financial-aid packages.
• 🚫🗳️ Billionaire Reid Hoffman is reportedly pausing his donations to Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s campaign following her defeat against former President Trump in the New Hampshire primary.
• 🏛️ Ohio Republican lawmakers voted to override GOP Gov. Mike DeWine's veto on a new law that bans gender-affirming care for minors and restricts transgender girls and women from school sports teams through the collegiate level. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• ✈️🥇 The best and worst airlines of 2023.

Yesterday, we covered how former President Trump and President Biden – who ran as a write-in candidate – both cruised to victory in their respective New Hampshire primary.

❓ Our question to you: If November’s presidential election were held today, who would you vote for?

• 🔴 The Republican candidate: 28%
• 🔵 The Democratic candidate: 40%
• 3️⃣ A third-party candidate: 14%
• 🔞 I’m too young/I don’t vote: 8%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 10%

Click here to read some of the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 7,502 votes and 531 longform responses.

We bring you the most unusual, off-the-wall and occasionally laugh-out-loud headlines from this week.

• Teen facing charges for allegedly taping fish to ATMs in Provo → (ABC4 Salt Lake City)
• Woman arrested after police found $2,500 worth of Stanley cups in her car → (NBC News)
• Middle school removes bathroom mirrors to stop kids from making TikToks → (Daily Express)
• Beaver blamed for Texas road washing away in the rain → (UPI)

Julie Shore and Scott Gaede first met in 1993; two weeks later, Scott knew he was in love. 

Nearly 20 years of marriage and two children later, however, the couple separated. The divorce was finalized in 2018. 

❤️ A real-life parent trap... The couple reunited in 2020 due to quarantine rules and regulations during the pandemic. A few months after the family started spending more time together, one of their daughters said to Julie, "[Mom,] you have a crush on Dad and you're lying about it and you haven't told anyone!" 

• While the couple first tried to deny the reignited spark, it was inevitable – Julie and Scott started dating again soon after.
• The couple was remarried last month with their daughters by their sides.

The Ellora Caves, home to 34 rock-hewn temples, are located in which Asian country?

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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*Investing involves risk and past performance is not indicative of future returns. See important Reg A disclosures and aggregate advisory performance masterworks.com/cd.