Undergraduate enrollment rose 0.6 percent in fall 2026, a marked slowdown from the 2.4 percent increase the Clearinghouse reported in its early look at fall 2025. Community colleges were the only sector to add students, with undergraduate headcount up 1.2 percent, well below the 4.0 percent jump two-year public institutions saw in last year’s preliminary numbers.
“These preliminary results show enrollment holding relatively steady overall, but that stability doesn’t tell the whole story,” said Matthew Holsapple, senior director of research at the Clearinghouse. “Meaningful differences across sectors, degree levels, and fields of study reflect the complex enrollment trends unfolding across higher education this fall.”
Dr. George R. Boggs, president and CEO emeritus of the American Association of Community Colleges and superintendent/president emeritus of Palomar College in San Marcos, California, said economic pressure is steering students to lower-cost options.
“Prospective college students and their parents are very concerned about the affordability of college,” Boggs said. “The cost of living has increased markedly in the past six months, and families are looking for ways to lower costs of everything, including college.”
He added that reports of heavy debt loads among recent graduates have many students hunting for a quality education at a manageable price.
“Attending a lower-cost community college and living at home is an attractive option,” he said.
Boggs also pointed to the “enrollment cliff,” the shrinking pool of traditional college-age students tied to falling birth rates after the 2007-2009 Great Recession. Two-year institutions have responded by aggressively recruiting high schoolers into dual enrollment courses, he said.
“There are about 3 million high school students now taking college classes, and 70 percent of them are taking classes at community colleges,” Boggs added.
Local campuses have also built offerings for older, returning learners who juggle family and work obligations and cannot relocate for school, he noted. And with a national focus on workforce preparation, Boggs said, these colleges offer programs that prepare students for employment “in two years or less, and without going into debt.”
Graduate enrollment declined 1.6 percent after holding nearly flat a year ago. The drop was driven largely by master’s programs, which shed 3.7 percent of their students. Doctoral enrollment was relatively stable, slipping 0.5 percent.
The master’s decline marks a steep reversal from fall 2025, when early data showed master’s enrollment down just 0.6 percent and overall graduate enrollment up 0.1 percent.
Boggs said the economy, high tuition and new limits on federal student loans are likely weighing on master’s programs, along with government restrictions on admitting international students. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed in July 2025, new graduate borrowers lost access to Grad PLUS loans as of July 1, 2026, and now face an annual federal borrowing cap of $20,500 for most graduate programs.
Enrollment in computer and information science programs fell sharply for a second straight fall, with double-digit losses at every level. Students in the field dropped 12.4 percent at four-year undergraduate institutions, 12.3 percent at two-year colleges and 10.4 percent at the graduate level. Last fall’s preliminary report had shown a 7.7 percent decline among four-year undergraduates in the discipline.
Health majors moved in the opposite direction, growing across every award and institution type, with increases ranging from 2.0 percent to 6.2 percent.
Boggs attributed the computer science slide largely to uncertainty surrounding artificial intelligence.
“Many formerly high-paying jobs, such as coding, can be done more efficiently by AI,” he said, noting that major software companies are shrinking their workforces. Health-related careers, by contrast, “seem to be safer bets for job security,” he said.
Black and Hispanic students posted gains at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, while the number of Asian and white students declined. Researchers urged caution in reading those shifts, however, pointing to a growing share of students who do not report their race or ethnicity to their institutions.
The report reflects 7.92 million enrollments submitted as of Sept. 24 by 46.0 percent of the U.S. postsecondary institutions that report to the Clearinghouse. Because of that limited coverage, the Virginia-based research center said the estimates are preliminary and may be revised.
Last year’s early numbers proved optimistic. The fall 2025 preliminary report showed total enrollment climbing 2.0 percent, but the final count released in January put growth at 1.0 percent, bringing total postsecondary enrollment to 19.4 million students.
The Clearinghouse said the preliminary report highlights data points that have historically tracked consistently between early and final results. A Final Fall Enrollment Trends report, based on comprehensive data and more detailed analysis, is scheduled for January 2027.
The preliminary analysis is the first installment of the Clearinghouse Enrollment Insights series, which is designed to give colleges, policymakers and researchers an early read on fall enrollment.
