Colleges are seeing their undergraduate enrollment numbers go up for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, according to new data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
Three years later, undergraduate enrollment has gone up 2.1 percent this fall compared to 2022, and community colleges saw an increase of 4.4 percent.
The recovery has come from unexpected areas, however, as freshman enrollment actually fell 3.6 percent compared to in fall 2022.
College enrollment cycles with unemployment. When jobs are easy to get a percentage of high school graduates just go to work instead of college. And adult workers do not go back to learn new skills.
I wonder if this is an early sign of the Feds interest rates slowing down the economy? By most other measures the economy is roaring.
It sounds more like people are going back to college, as the freshmen class is still shrinking.
My guess is that a lot of people paused college during the shutdown and are now starting to go back.
Thats likely part of it, but the shift in which colleges are seeing the rising enrollment also speaks to students choosing different education. 4 year Bachelors degree enrollment is still down. The major winners noted today are community colleges. So 2 year Associate Degrees and certificate programs. This suggests students are choosing education with more of a vocational direction with a lower total cost and quicker time to enter the new job role.