Report finds college enrollments rebounding slowly from COVID

College enrollments declined more slowly this spring semester after two years of a COVID-fueled nosedive, according to new data released Wednesday.

Enrollments across all higher education sectors fell by 0.5% from 17,246,157 in spring 2022 to 17,153,317 in spring 2023, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported.

The new numbers show that the decline in the number of college students nationwide has slowed dramatically from the 3.1 % decrease from spring 2021 to spring 2022 and a 3.5% plunge from spring 2020 — when pandemic lockdowns shuttered campuses — to spring 2021.

This spring’s final tally is 1,309,284 students under the 18,462,601 scholars the nonprofit clearinghouse counted in the spring 2019 semester.

The number of students attending four-year public, four-year private and for-profit institutions declined at slower rates from last spring to this spring than before the pandemic. And the report found community college enrollment grew by 0.5% from 4,097,987 to 4,079,830.

“A growing number of younger students, primarily dual enrolled high school students and freshmen, contributed to the uptick,” the report authors noted.

Enrollment among students under 18 — largely high schoolers taking community college classes for advanced credit — surged 8.2% from last spring to this spring. The share of traditional-age students grew by 0.3% and students over 24 dropped 3.3% over the same period.

The report noted that freshman numbers grew by 9.2% from spring 2022, “building on a similar increase reported last year.”

The Reston, Virginia-based educational research center releases final enrollment numbers for the fall semester every January and final numbers for the spring semester every May. Its estimates represent 97% of all enrollments at degree-granting institutions that receive federal student loan money.

Enrollments in U.S. colleges and universities have declined steadily since 2009, but fell at a slower rate before the pandemic.

Earlier data from the National Student Clearinghouse found undergraduate college enrollment dropping 8% from fall 2019 to 2022, with declines even after in-person classes resumed. The dive in college-going rates since 2018 is the steepest on record, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Spring trend lines have changed little from the clearinghouse’s fall 2022 enrollment numbers, which showed enrollment declines slowing but not reversing and some improvement for community colleges.