New figures released by the Census Bureau Thursday show undergraduate and graduate enrollment at colleges and universities dropped 1.2 million—or 6 percent—from 2010 to 2015. The drop accompanies an overall decrease in school enrollment at all levels from 78.6 million to 77.1 million during the same time period.
Broken down by race, the percentage of Asian and Hispanic high school graduates enrolled in college is about the same in 2015 as in 2010, while enrollment among whites has fallen slightly. The most significant decrease in college enrollment from 2010 to 2015 was among black students, although 2015 rebounded somewhat from 2014 to 2015, as this Census Bureau graph illustrates:
Other highlights from the Census Bureau included:
-Over the past decade, enrollment in private schools declined by 1.4 million at all levels from pre-K to college.
-School enrollment of Hispanic students at all levels grew 35.5 percent in the 10 years from 2005 to 2015.
-The percentage of high school dropouts ages 18 to 24 decreased from 11.3 percent in 2005 to 6.4 percent in 2015.
The White House has touted the decrease in the high school drop-out rate during President Obama’s time in office, but the administration’s efforts to highlight the importance of college and to have the government absorb more of the cost of higher education do not seem to be bearing fruit yet.
