WKBT
July 1, 2021 5:00 PM Colin Beresford
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College enrollment has fallen for the second semester in a row compared with year-earlier periods. And the drop through the spring of this year was worse than it was in fall 2020.
For the spring semester, overall enrollment declined 3.5% from the previous spring, according to estimates released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center on June 10. Last fall, enrollment fell 2.6% year over year.
The estimates weren’t surprising to Bill DeBaun, director of data and evaluation at the National College Attainment Network, but they were alarming. “To see continued enrollment decline again into the spring has to give the entire education sector and everyone associated with it a lot of pause,” DeBaun says.
Community colleges continued to see the largest enrollment declines this fall, with 9.5 percent fewer students enrolled. Experts say two-year colleges have focused on retaining existing students this year.