‘National crisis’: 37% of adult education seekers have bailed
Chris Burt
May 20, 2021
A new Strada survey shows in detail the negative effects the pandemic has had on those who were looking to reskill.
More than a third of adults who were pursuing postsecondary education before the COVID-19 pandemic have decided to cancel or shelve those plans, according to a new report released by Strada Education Network.
Strada’s Public Viewpoint survey done between February and April of more than 2,100 adults 18 and older showed that 15% have completely abandoned those goals while another 22% have at least temporarily put off enrolling at higher education institutions. That has led to what Strada has called “a national crisis of learners” that includes a more than 10% drop in enrollment since last March.
“We were surprised that the interest in education training dropped so much,” Andrew Hanson, Director of Research at Strada told University Business. “You think about the recession and the economy. With jobs going away, you would think that the interest would be persistent, but it seems as though a lot of them have given up their pursuit of education.”
