Is America Changing How It Thinks About College?

Roughly two years into the pandemic, both community colleges and universities alike are dealing with declining enrollment and the growing popularity of other post-secondary learning opportunities – and potential students are facing perpetually rising tuition and student debt.

🔢 By the numbers: There are nearly 1 million fewer college students in the US than before the start of the pandemic, according to new data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

• The proportion of high-schoolers considering a four-year education has dropped 23% since the pandemic began, according to a survey by nonprofit ECMC Group.
• More than half of students now believe they can succeed with a post-high school education of three years or less.

🎓 What are some alternatives?… A new national survey found 4% of American adults (~8 million people) are currently enrolled in a tech bootcamp – which, if true, would represent roughly half of all US college enrollment for last semester.

• There are also career colleges, aka technical or trade schools. Those run by ECMC Group in Georgia, Florida, and Texas reported a collective 20% increase in students in 2020 and 16% last year.

📸 The big picture: While the pandemic is blamed as the primary reason for college enrollment declines over the past two years, falling birth rates are expected to play a much larger role in US citizen enrollment going forward.

• Births fell 17% across the US from 2007 through 2020, meaning the current downturn in undergraduate enrollment will likely accelerate once that population starts reaching college age in a few years.