For the third straight year, the National Student Clearinghouse has cited a drop in undergraduate college enrollment. This year, undergraduate college enrollment dropped by 1.1%. As for participation in post-graduate programs, enrollment has also dropped by 1% since last year. While the declines recorded from 2021 to 2022 are not as drastic as the ones experienced at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts are not calling it a comeback.
“I certainly wouldn’t call this a recovery,” National Student Clearinghouse Executive Director Doug Shapiro told NPR.
“We’re seeing smaller declines. But when you’re in a deep hole, the fact that you’re only digging a tiny bit further is not really good news.”
Digging deeper into the data provided by National Student Clearinghouse, it becomes increasingly clear that for-profit institutions and public four-year schools have seen the steepest drop-offs. In comparison, community colleges have only seen a decline of 0.4% since last fall. However, National Student Clearinghouse points out that the slower decline could be caused by the high school students in dual enrollment at community colleges.
In the midst of college enrollment dropoffs, one section of educational institutions appears to be thriving — historically Black colleges and universities.
“The total number of undergraduate college students in the U.S. has dropped by almost 10 percent during the pandemic, but it’s been a different story for some time at many historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, where interest and funding have increased,” Judy Woodruff of PBS reports.
“Applications were up nearly 30 percent at many of these schools between 2018 and 2021. And top-tier HBCUs are increasingly becoming the first choice for some of the country’s most sought-after students.”
