Good News and Bad News: Enrollment Data Offers Mixed Messages

The latest data for fall 2022 enrollment shows the declines characteristic of the pandemic have begun to level off, but overall postsecondary enrollment is still on the decline, dropping by 1.1% since last fall.

These are the latest numbers from 62% of institutions that report to the National Student Clearinghouse, an educational nonprofit organization which collects data and offers insights from 97% of all postsecondary institutions in the U.S.

“Undergraduate enrollments are still falling this term, but the rate of decline is lower than it’s been after two straight years of historically large losses in student enrollment,” said Dr. Doug Shapiro, vice president of research and executive director of the research center at the Clearinghouse. “It’s particularly troubling that numbers are not climbing back at this point, particularly among freshmen.”

While freshman enrollment at four-year institutions (public, private, profit and non-profit) dropped by 1.5%, community college freshman enrollment increased by .9%. The steepest drops in enrollment were seen at private for-profit institutions (-2.5%) and public four-year universities (-1.6%). But community college enrollment only dropped by .4%, an encouraging number compared to its previous enrollment losses, losing 20% of their enrollment between spring 2020 and spring 2022.

Shapiro said these data, coupled with a 2.5% increase in undergraduate credential courses, suggests that potential students are still questioning the affordability of higher education.

Dr. Karen Stout, president and CEO of Achieving the Dream.The report also shows a continued decrease in students of color. Although white student enrollment decreased the most this fall, Black student enrollment fell by 1.6%, bringing their total drop since the pandemic to just under 7%. The only two racial groups to experience growth were students who identified as “other,” and Latinx students, whose 1.2% enrollment growth is likely due to the increasing number of Latinx students graduating high school in the U.S.

Dr. Karen A. Stout, president and CEO of Achieving the Dream, an organization focused on increasing equitable education at over 300 community colleges, said the drop in enrollment for students of color re-emphasizes the work college presidents still have to do.