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 Donald Trump Speaks During A Campaign Rally In Green Bay Wisconsin

Darron Cummings

New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center confirms that colleges and universities are finally seeing growth in student enrollment. This marks the first increase in enrollment since the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">coronavirus</a> pandemic upended higher education.

Undergraduate head counts grew 1.2 percent in the fall, amounting to<b> </b>about 176,000 more undergraduate students in college than the prior year. Still, there were more than a million empty seats on campuses compared with five years ago, according to the <a href="https://nscresearchcenter.org/current-term-enrollment-estimates/" target=_blank>report</a> released Wednesday.

“Colleges are hoping that they have finally seen the bottom and are now starting to recover,” Doug Shapiro, the research center’s executive director, said on a call with reporters Tuesday. “But we’re still in a deep hole.”

The report, a closely watched indicator of sector-wide trends, offers a more complete picture of fall head counts than the preliminary findings that the Clearinghouse released in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/10/26/college-enrollment-grew-first-time-since-pandemic-started/" target=_blank>October</a>. The trend lines are largely the same, with older students driving the growth in enrollment on one end and high-schoolers on the other. The most significant growth in undergraduate enrollment came from the matriculation of existing students and a return of those who previously dropped out, Shapiro noted.

Yet with more colleges reporting their fall numbers, researchers are noticing trends that could shape higher education for years to come. Here’s a look at a few key takeaways from the report.

Older students are driving freshman enrollment

Colleges and universities counted more freshmen this fall than in years past, but recent high school graduates weren’t the ones signing up for the most classes. People age 21 and up drove<b> </b>the growth in freshman enrollment, especially at community colleges. Researchers also found an influx of community college students over age 30, a rare increase in enrollment for that population, according to the report.

Enrollment of first-time undergraduate students under the age of 20 flatlined this fall and remains 5.3 percent below 2019 levels.

Enrollment in associate programs saw the highest growth among undergraduates, up 2.2 percent over the prior year, but still 14.2 percent below fall 2019 levels. Bachelor’s programs grew at a lower rate of less than a percent and remains 3.3 percent below pre-pandemic levels, according to the report.

Undergraduate certificate programs gained 18,000 students for a third consecutive year of fall term growth, although growth has tapered from its high in fall 2021. Still, enrollment in certificate programs is 15.6 percent above 2019 levels.

“After that initial shock when community colleges lost huge numbers of students in 2020 and 2021, students have been increasingly opting for shorter-term credentials,” Shapiro said.

Community colleges with a focus on vocational education registered a 16 percent increase in fall enrollment, bringing head counts above fall 2019 levels.

Shapiro said enrollment in mechanic and repair technologies at community colleges grew by 11.5 percent compared with the prior year.

High-schoolers eager to get a jump on college courses continue to file into community colleges, which reported a 5.2 percent increase in dual enrollment students over the prior year.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/08/25/dual-enrollment-experiment-ends/?itid=lk_inline_manual_11&itid=lk_inline_manual_8" target=_blank>Dual-enrollment</a> programs, which let high school students take college classes, have been a bright spot for community colleges. Enrollment in those programs helped pull many schools out of steep declines in head counts during the height of the pandemic.

Columbia University, New York University

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel covers the economics of higher education, writing about the financial policies that determine a student's access to education and ability to complete a credential. 