The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) recently released itsfinal report on fall 2020 postsecondary enrollment. Given the pandemic’s widespread impact on higher education, it should not come as a surprise that the report found decreases in university enrollment. We summarize the relevant findings from the NSCRC report below and conclude with a brief overview of how automating theenrollment process can help schools to overcome these challenges.
Key Fall 2020 Enrollment Findings
The following are the most significant findings from the NSCRC’s fall report.
- Postsecondary enrollments declined by 2.5%. This is nearly twice the enrollment decline reported in the fall of 2019.
- Undergraduate enrollment contributed significantly to the decline, decreasing 3.6% or over 560,200 students.
- The public two-year sector experienced the largest declines of 10.1% from last fall.
- Graduate enrollment increased by 3.6% from the previous fall.
- Public four-year institutions enrollment increased 0.2% from last fall, driven by the growth in graduate enrollment.
- First-time student enrollment declined 13.1% over last fall. Declines at public 2 two-year institutions contributed was largely responsible (21% decrease).
Doug Shapiro, the executive director of the NSCRC, attributed most of thedecline in first-time students to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession. Also, it is worth noting that adult enrollment, those over 24 years old, . Robert Kelchen, an associate professor at Seton Hall University, notes that the steep decline in adult university enrollment is likely do to childcare or the need to earn a living.
