Our favorite entry on the regional economy from the latest Beige Book (federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/BeigeBook_20260902.pdf) reveals a troubling development in higher education.  Fact checking by Sierra Juarez (npr.org/people/1268825622/sierra-juarez) . Your Next Listen  — Community colleges are kind of underrated (lnk.to/URleOy) Connect with The Indicator  — Sign up for The Indicator’s weekly newsletter (npr.org/indicatornewsletter) !  — Buy the Planet Money book (lnk.to/i3AukBdDWE)   — Find our socials, YouTube and more (linktr.ee/indicator_npr) !  — For sponsor-free episodes, subscribe to NPR+ (plus.npr.org)   Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org (plus.npr.org) . See pcm.adswizz.com (pcm.adswizz.com) for information about our collection and use of personal data for...