New research from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center finds that college enrollments have continued to fall this year after drops a year ago due to the global pandemic. Undergraduate enrollment is down 3.2 percent from a year ago. Undergraduate student numbers have now fallen by 6.5 percent from two years ago. First-year enrollments declined by 3.1 percent overall this year and 3.9 percent among traditional-age students.
When we examine the data by gender, the data shows that enrollments of women are down 3.6 percent from a year ago, slightly more than the decline for men. But over the two-year period from 2019 to 2021, enrollments of women have dropped 5.3 percent compared to more than 9 percent for men.
The enrollment of women in public four-year colleges and universities held steady in 2020 but dropped 2.3 percent this year. Enrollments of women were down slightly more than 1 percent at private four-year not-for-profit institutions. At for-profit higher education institutions, enrollments of women were down nearly 11 percent this fall, compared to more than 15 percent for men.
At two-year community colleges, women’s enrollments are down 6.8 percent this year, compared to 4.7 percent for men. But over the two-year period from 2019 to 2021, women enrollments at community colleges are down 12.2 percent compared to more than 18 percent for men.