College Enrollment Continues to Fall

Declining college enrollment has continued, with experts suggesting that people are questioning the value of a postsecondary education. 

Total college enrollment — both undergraduate and graduate — fell this spring to 16.2 million students, marking a one-year decline of 4.1%, or 685,000 students, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) announced on Thursday. 

That followed a 3.5% drop last spring, meaning postsecondary institutions have lost nearly 1.3 million students since spring 2020. 

Most of this spring’s decline was accounted for by undergraduate enrollment, which dropped 4.7%, or more than 662,000 students, compared to spring 2021. 

The total number of undergraduates now is 9.4%, or nearly 1.4 million students smaller than before the pandemic. 

“I thought we would start to see some of the declines begin to shrink a bit this term,” NSCRC Executive Director Dr. Doug Shapiro said during a conference call with reporters, The New York Times reported.& …