Community colleges saw the largest enrollment declines this fall. Matriculation by first-time freshmen also fell sharply.
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released its final report on fall enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes data from most institutions in the country.
The data haven’t changed much throughout the fall semester. Overarching trends, like the decline in community college enrollment, increases in graduate student enrollment and drops in first-time freshmen, have remained consistent since the first report.
The final word is that, over all, college enrollments declined 2.5 percent this fall. This is twice the rate of decline reported in fall 2019. Higher education lost about 400,000 students this fall.
Community college enrollment saw the sharpest declines, and freshman enrollment is down 13.1 percent, about steady with the previous report. Community college enrollment is down 10.1 percent, up from the 9.5 percent decline in the last report. Public colleges over all lost 4 percent of their enrollment, a concerning fact given public institutions enroll seven out of 10 students.
Continuing students are doing well, though, said Doug Shapiro, executive director of the research center.
“Almost all students who enrolled in the spring stayed enrolled this fall,” except those who graduated, he said during a webinar for the report.