Ruth Bauer
After years of decline, freshman enrollment
is finally rising. But while that’s cause for celebration, another trend is quietly unfolding beneath the surface—one that colleges can’t afford to ignore.
For the second year in a row, the number of students stopping out from higher education declined and the number of SCNC students re-enrolling in postsecondary education increased. However, the SCNC population still grew as the 2.1 million students who were newly stopped out between January 2022 and July 2023 far outpaced SCNC re-enrollmentin the 2022-23 academic year and the number of individuals aging out of the working age SCNC population.
Increasing freshman enrollment is important, but it means little if so many students continue to leave college empty-handed. Colleges should not focus solely on bringing in new students; they need to also prioritize bringing back the millions of students who left without a degree.
These learners often have work obligations, financial pressures, and family responsibilities that make returning to college more complex—but not impossible. They need guidance not only for navigating the re-enrollment process but navigating the competing demands of their daily lives.
Institutions can rethink their approach to re-enrollment, providing tailored support that helps these students return, persist, and graduate.
Too often, prospective returning students feel as though they failed. In reality, it’s often the system that has struggled to support them. Many colleges are still structured around the needs of 18-year-olds attending full time and supported by parents, not around adult learners juggling work and family responsibilities.
Ensuring students return and persist—or, better yet, not leave in the first place—requires helping them develop adifferent kind of connection to higher education. They need to feel like someone at the college knows them, sees them, and is willing to stay by their side while they navigate the uncertainty of coming back to college.
