[freditup]

Quality declining is an interesting point that's hard to quantify. I went to a very well-viewed public school, and a large potion of my classes were quite unimpressive. (Think poor teaching; questions/answers to exams basically provided to you the night before the exam by the TA, exams graded on a ludicrous curve such that you don't really have to master anything, etc.)

Friends of mine who have stayed around the university swear that things have only gotten worse since our time, with the rise of more and more online classes and less and less true understanding expected.

I can't provide hard data on whether quality of education is declining, but I can say that large parts of my education were somewhat suspect.