The number of freshmen entering college fell this fall for the first time since the pandemic, according to an estimate released Wednesday that confirms the effects of a botched federal student aid revamp.
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported that first-year enrollment dropped more than 5% from the fall of 2023, reversing a 1% increase from the preceding year and returning to pre-2022 levels. That included a 6% plunge in 18-year-old freshmen entering right after high school graduation.
On the positive side, the nonprofit education think tank said total headcount in institutions of higher learning inched up 2.9%, buoyed by strong retention at community colleges and past dropouts resuming their studies.
“It is startling to see such a substantial drop in freshmen, the first decline since the start of the pandemic in 2020 when they plunged nearly 10%,” said Doug Shapiro, the clearinghouse’s research director. “But the gains among students either continuing from last year or returning from prior stop-outs are keeping overall undergraduate numbers growing, especially at community colleges, and that’s at least some good news for students and schools alike.”
The report comes after Education Department officials launched a revision of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid last year with glitches that campus officials widely blamed for reducing college applications.
The botched rollout added to financial pressures on the growing number of colleges and universities that have closed or merged in recent years to offset decades of enrollment declines caused by falling birth rates, tuition hikes and increased operating costs.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle blamed the Biden-Harris administration for slow-walking and bungling the FAFSA revamp, which Congress authorized in a 2020 law designed to make the application easier for working-class families.
The fiasco prompted FSA Chief Operating Officer Richard Cordray to resign last summer. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has since pledged that next year’s applications will go more smoothly.
Last month, the Government Accountability Office reported that a three-month launch delay and technical glitches on the FAFSA website the past year led to 432,000 fewer students submitting a FAFSA for the 2024-25 term, a 3% decrease from the previous application cycle.
The report said a 9% drop in high school seniors and other first-time applicants led the way, with 325,000 fewer submitting applications for this fall. The largest decreases occurred among students from households with incomes of $30,000 to $48,000 a year.
“Declines in submissions were particularly pronounced among lower-income students and families,” Melissa Emrey-Arras, director of the GAO Education, Workforce and Income Security team, told a House higher education subcommittee hearing on the report.
Among nonprofit institutions, the National Student Clearinghouse counted 8.5% fewer freshmen at public colleges and 6.5% fewer at private universities this fall versus last year.
The declines occurred among first-year students of all racial backgrounds and income levels, including an 11.4% drop among White students and a 6.1% decrease in Black students.
Four-year colleges serving low-income students were hit the hardest, as the tally of entering freshmen dropped more than 10% on campuses with high shares of Pell Grant recipients.
At the same time, community college enrollment increased by 1.2%, and the number of students pursuing short-term microcredentials in undergraduate certificate programs jumped by 7.3%.
That continues a post-pandemic trend of high school students taking dual-enrolled courses and high school graduates choosing more affordable programs over expensive four-year degrees.
Former dropouts returning to college also helped drive up enrollment by 1.9% for four-year bachelor’s degrees and 4.3% for two-year associate degree programs this fall. Graduate programs grew 2.1%.
“Growth in undergraduate enrollment is therefore being driven by increases in nonfreshman students and dual enrolled high school students (undergraduates 17 years old and younger),” the clearinghouse said Wednesday.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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