It’s official – fall 2021 marked a steep, two-year decline in enrollments at post-secondary institutions.
According to data released by the National Student Clearinghouse, an educational non-profit that represents over 97% of postsecondary institutions, this brings the total loss of potential undergraduate students since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,025,600.
“Last year there was no doubt that [enrollment drops] seemed to be about the pandemic,” said Dr. Doug Shapiro, vice president and executive research director at the National Student Clearinghouse. “This year we’re seeing shifts in the patterns of the declines that make me think it’s potentially a larger phenomenon.”
Those shifts occurred within four-year institutions, who took a big hit this fall, dropping 3.8%, the equivalent of 251,400 students.
“When we talked about enrollment declines last year, most were in community colleges. They tended to be the most disadvantaged students living in communities that were the most affected by the pandemic,” said Shapiro. The majority of community college students come from lower income families, are underrepresented populations, first-generation students, and working adults.
Dr. Thomas Brock, director of the Community College Research Center at Columbia University
Shapiro said that one possible reason for the decline in four-year numbers could be that pandemic related economic struggles are now starting to negatively impact middle-income families, meaning that “it could be the start of a whole rethinking of the value of college, at any level.”
