Spring college enrollments dropped, following a years-long trend in fall enrollments that show students are less enthusiastic about the prospect (and cost) of a degree.
Overall enrollments fell by 1.3 percent compared to last spring, according to Inside Higher Ed. The data, from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, showed that four-year public and private institutions were the only ones who broke that trend. Four-year public colleges saw a .6 percent improvement, narrowly beaten by four-year private colleges at .7 percent.
The decline came from four-year for-profit colleges, whose enrollments fell 9.3 percent. Community colleges followed suit, losing 2.8 percent of enrollments from a year ago.
More than anything else, age has driven the decline.
“Compared to last spring, 241,000 fewer students over age 24 enrolled, while the decline in the 24-and-under category was just 7,800. And students over the age of 24 made up nearly 80 percent of the community college sector’s slide,” Inside Higher Ed reported.
Fall enrollments have dropped for three years and followed a similar pattern. Young millennials flock to four-year non-profit colleges, but older millennials have given up on for-profits and community colleges. An improving economy, and debt that’s difficult to repay without completing a degree has made older students wary.
Add the problem of rising college costs that have been amplified by federal aid, and the appeal of a two-year degree has been shrinking.
About 18 million students enrolled in college for spring classes, slightly less than the 20 million students that the National Center for Education Statistics projected to be enrolled in fall 2015. The gap doesn’t mean that 2 million students, dropped out. Instead, the 4.9 percent decrease “represents the net effect of fall student attrition, graduation, and stopout, combined with new and returning spring student enrollments,” the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center noted.
Four-year colleges have had weak growth, but a mass rejection of a bachelor’s degree isn’t fact yet. Instead, the numbers should worry community colleges and advocates of free community college. More and more, students are rejecting that path.
