Educators Sound Alarm as College Enrollment Drops by 'Very Large and Very Discouraging' Amount

Educators are sounding the alarm after college enrollment dropped by a "very large and very discouraging amount," according to a new study.

The study published Dec. 2 by the National College Attainment Network (NCAN), which accounted for 80% of higher education institutions, found that college enrollment dropped by 5% for freshmen this school year, and 6% for 18-year-olds.

The analysis conducted by National Student Clearinghouse Research Center strikingly differed from the year prior, where universities across the country saw about a 3% increase in enrollment from high school graduates.

NCAN Senior Director Bill DeBaun told Inside High Ed that the steep decline in enrollment was "very large and very discouraging." He attributed the decline to the delayed rollout of the U.S. Department of Education's Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) last year, as well as the ban on affirmative action.

While enrollment decreased across the board for students of all ethnicities, Black 18-year-olds attending highly selective institutions saw the largest decrease, by nearly 17%. Multiracial students at the same level of institutions dropped by 14.2%, in comparison to white students which dropped about 5%.

DeBaun referred to the FAFSA application for the 2024-25 school year as "disastrous" in a blog post for NCAN, as in addition to opening late, the application also included many technical bugs. This "resulted in award letter delivery being late or occurring after decision deadlines," which DeBaun wrote could have impacted students' decision to attend college.

"We were starting to build some real positive momentum coming out of the pandemic. And this is a full reverse on that momentum," he told Inside Higher Ed.