Will the Higher Ed Enrollment Decline Get Worse? Students Say Yes.

Students are reporting less willingness and fewer opportunities to get a college degree. How can institutions respond to the higher ed enrollment decline? We outline two key strategies.

Recent higher ed enrollment trends paint a grim picture: Following steep declines between 2019 and 2021, enrollment across all undergraduate educational sectors continued to plummet in the spring of 2022.  

Predicting exactly what’s ahead for higher ed enrollment is tricky. On the one hand, a recent Winston poll found that public opinion of higher education has improved (somewhat) after taking a nose dive in the latter part of the past decade. A Lumina-Gallup Student Study also states that enrollment intentions “are extremely high for those who report they have stopped out during the pandemic.”

On the other hand, only 45% of high school students think higher education is necessary. Before the pandemic, 60% of high school students felt that way.

A 2022 report by the Strada Education Network presents further evidence of a sustained downward trend. According to their data, confidence among past, present, and prospective students in the value of education has been declining. The report states, “perceptions of education’s value are just as important for predicting enrollment behavior as respondents’ self-reported likelihood to enroll.” 

The writing’s on the wall: Among many Americans, higher ed has lost its luster — they no longer feel that college is worthwhile. Higher learning leaders will be grappling with enrollment woes for the foreseeable future.

BibliU can help make college more affordable for students.

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