I look forward to the time when *ALL* the Universities are in a Death Spiral. One of the things we most urgently need to do is to separate all those Liberal Academics from their sources of income and influence.
With modern technology, many/most people don't really need real life instructors anyways. The Khan Academy demonstrates that anyone interested in learning can actually do so on their own. All that a University provides nowadays is indoctrination and "Credentialism."
We need to cut the money tethers between Universities and Big Government.
Thing is, to me, a university degree should be a topping on a pile of a long term work history, not just a degree and then work. University needs to be treated as an end of high school, not an extension of it.
I always felt that learning depends largely on you as a person -- your skills, intelligence, motivation. No one can simply be parked in front of a book -- or computer -- and become instant scholar. In a sense, you either have it or you don't.
However, universities do offer the structure & focus needed to maintain discipline. For this, I will give them credit. Self-learning only works with those who make it a habit.
Re law school -- maybe only those who truly love the study & practice of law should be there, and not the liberal arts majors simply in search of work.