After a year and a half of virtual learning, students finally returned to campuses this Fall. However, whether it's due to financial difficulties or health concerns, many students are putting college on hold causing enrollment to drop two years in a roll.
Early data released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) shows that enrollment fell by 3.2 percent since last year, resulting in a combined 6.5 percent drop from two years ago. The decline is observed in all age groups. Right now only about half of the data from surveyed schools, representing 8.4 million students, has been analyzed, but Dr. Doug Shapiro, vice president of research and executive director of the research center, doesn’t expect any big changes in the overall performance.
“It would be the largest two-year enrollment decline in at least the last 50 years in the US,” he said, adding that the steep decline is especially painful with an already depressed level of enrollment even before the pandemic during a briefing on Monday. Shapiro explains that usually enrollments at community colleges would spike during a recession and students would go back to work later when the job market improves. But this did not happen during the pandemic. Community colleges are the most adversely affected sector during the pandemic with a 14.1 percent drop in enrollment since 2019, according to the report.
“There was simply no upside from the recession," said Shapiro. "Just a downside that we're seeing now from the recovery in the job market."
Additionally, many young people choose to join the workforce after graduating high school instead of going to college. And low-wage workers from low-income families have been lured away by the temporary hitch in the labor market where wages are increasing. Shapiro said that these students have always been on the margin between college and the workforce due to the need to support their families through hard times.
The decline is also observed in all age and gender groups. But college enrollment for men is dropping much more significantly than for women by four percentage points.
