600,000 fewer students enrolled in college this spring, survey finds – Inside Higher Ed
Natalie Schwartz
June 10, 2021
Dive Brief:
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College enrollment fell 3.5% in the spring term compared to the prior year, representing about 600,000 fewer students and marking the steepest annual drop in a decade, according to final figures from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
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A 4.9% drop in undergraduates, or roughly 727,000 students, fueled the decline Graduate enrollment, which rose 4.6%, or around 124,000 students, helped offset some of those losses.
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The report reveals the severity of the pandemic’s impact on enrollment. Recovery depends in part on whether schools will be able to convince these missing students to enroll for the upcoming academic year.
Dive Insight:
Enrollment losses in the spring are seven times larger than the 0.5% drop seen the year before. “That’s a lot of educational trajectories interrupted, if not completely disrupted,” said Doug Shapiro, the center’s executive director.
The downswing continues a trend seen in the fall term, when almost 500,000 fewer students were enrolled in college compared to 2019 figures.
