Why is there a college enrollment cliff?

Students are not being engaged early enough. As many students consider more affordable options or delay higher education, underserved students with limited college prep resources are abandoning the prospect of attending college at much higher rates.

How long will the enrollment cliff last?

The consensus view is that America will hit a peak of around 3.5 million high-school graduates sometime near 2025. After that, the college-going population is expected to shrink across the next five to 10 years by as many as 15 percentage points.

Why is college enrollment declining?

Tuition inflation might be another factor behind the college enrollment decline. In a 2022 BestColleges survey, more than 6 in 10 Americans said that the financial burden of earning a degree made college inaccessible. Since the pandemic, the college enrollment decline has accelerated.

Are less people going to college 2023?

HERNDON, VA – (JANUARY 24, 2024) – Undergraduate enrollment grew 1.2 percent (+176,000) in the fall of 2023, the first increase since the pandemic, according to the National Student Clearinghouse's latest research.

What is the crisis in higher education 2023?

Crisis in Student Debt and Institutional Finance

2023 was marked by substantial financial challenges within higher education. Student debt, a key concern, reached approximately $1.7 trillion, with some reduction anticipated due to forgiveness measures.

U.S. undergraduate enrollment continues to drop

What are three critical issues facing colleges and universities today?

The race for improvement increasingly focuses on the complicated needs of today's students—needs that can be understood by imagining a three-legged stool. The legs are financial issues, academic challenges, and social / emotional needs.

What is the college enrollment trend in 2023?

Current Term Enrollment Estimates: Fall 2023

Undergraduate enrollment grew 1.2 percent (+176,000) in fall 2023, the first increase since the pandemic. Among the three largest sectors, growth was highest at community colleges, which gained 118,000 students (+2.6%) after steep declines during the pandemic.

Is US college enrollment declining?

College enrollment among young Americans has been declining gradually over the past decade. In 2022, the total number of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in college was down by approximately 1.2 million from its peak in 2011. Most of the decline is due to fewer young men pursuing college.

Who is less likely to go to college?

Men are less likely to enroll in college than women and have been for the last two decades, according to the Pew Research Center. Only 36% of men ages 25-34 surveyed in 2021 had a college degree, compared to 46% of women. Area college enrollment numbers follow this trend.

What is the trend in college enrollment?

College student enrollment has generally declined over the past 12 years. About 65% of college students are enrolled full time. In fall 2023, roughly 55% of undergraduate students were women. In 2021, 53% of undergraduate and graduate students were white.

Why are men not going to college anymore?

More than 40% of men considered quitting college in 2022 and find it challenging to remain enrolled. More than half of all students surveyed on why they considered stopping out cited emotional stress and personal mental health reasons.

What is the enrollment cliff?

By now we all know about the demographic cliff: the number of traditional college-aged students will peak in 2025 and then decline dramatically for several years. What is less well-known is that the percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds choosing to attend college reached its peak years ago and continues to decline.

Is college losing value?

A decade later, Americans' feelings about higher education have turned sharply negative. The percentage of young adults who said that a college degree is very important fell to 41 percent from 74 percent.

What is the 2025 enrollment cliff?

So if you graph demographic projections, the precipitous descent resembles a cliff beginning in 2025. Over the succeeding four years, the number of 18-year-olds will decrease by 15%. How does that translate into enrollment figures? During that four-year span, colleges will lose approximately 576,000 students.

Are more people going to college than before?

College enrollment totaled 15.44 million undergraduate students nationwide in fall 2021, a 21% decline year-over-year (YoY). The number of total enrolled post-secondary students declined by 4.9% from 2019 to 2021, the most significant rate of decline in enrollment since 1951.

When did college enrollment peak?

Undergraduate enrollment in the United States topped out in 2010–11 at 18.1 million. It then began a steady slide, with a sharp drop in the first full academic year of the pandemic (figure 1). As of fall 2022, undergraduate enrollment was just under 15.1 million.

What percent of white kids go to college?

Enrollment rates are below average for low-income (54%) and English Learner students (42%). Just over half (55%) of Black and Latino graduates enrolled in college, compared to 68% of white students and 86% of Asian students.

What percent of poor people go to college?

College enrollment rates vary greatly depending on the socioeconomic status of a student's family. About 89% of students from well-off families go to college compared to 64% of students from middle-class families, and 51% of students from low-income families.

What is the most applied college in the US?

Why is the US college dropout rate so high?

Reasons Why College Students Drop Out

In a 2021 UPCEA survey of 3,236 individuals aged 20-34, the most common reasons students say they ultimately left their institution were money and personal/family issues. Nearly one-third of students (32%) selected personal/family issues as the reason they ultimately left school.

Is the demographic cliff real?

What is the demographic cliff? There is a simple answer. It is the reality that the number of traditional-age students in the U.S. is expected to peak in 2025 or 2026 and then decline precipitously.

What is the largest university in the US by enrollment?

In the fall of 2021, Western Governors University had the largest enrollment in the United States with 150,116 students. The next largest college by enrollment was Southern New Hampshire University with 145,533 students.

Is college enrollment increasing or decreasing?

Overall, undergraduate enrollment was 15 percent lower in fall 2021 than in fall 2010, with 42 percent of this decline occurring during the pandemic. In contrast, total undergraduate enrollment is projected to increase by 9 percent (from 15.4 million to 16.8 million students) between 2021 and 2031.

What increases college enrollment?

Social media optimization is one of the most useful marketing strategies to increase student enrollment, connect with prospective students, and show off what a college or university has to offer. Collect user-generated content by creating a hashtag for campus life activities.