Interesting trends in secondary enrollment, degrees
More kids are opting to go the Community College route
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) has dropped a couple of enrollment data sets that show a trend of more Community College activity versus that four-year institutions.
NSCRC is the research and data arm of the National Student Clearinghouse, which has a vision of being “the premier resource for education and workforce data, insights, and lifelong learner enablement.”
What NSCRC found in its Fall 2023 report (which dropped in January 2024) is that enrollment increased for undergraduates but Community Colleges saw the highest growth rate. Undergrads enrollment increased across all ethnic groups except whites, which was -2.0%.
Here’s a summary of the Fall 2023 data sets:
Overall undergraduate enrollment grew by 1.2%, an increase of 176,000 students.
Community colleges saw the highest growth at 2.6%, adding 118,000 students.
Public and private nonprofit 4-year institutions had smaller increases of 0.6%, adding 38,000 and 16,000 students, respectively.
Freshman enrollment increased by 0.8%, adding 18,000 students.
Community colleges contributed significantly to this growth, adding 17,000 freshmen (2.3%).
Older freshmen (age 21 and above) increased by 6.3%, adding 18,000 students.
There was no growth among freshmen aged 20 and younger, with their enrollment remaining 5.3% below 2019 levels.
Undergraduate enrollment increased among all major ethno-racial groups except white (-2.0%, -124,000) and Native American students (-1.0%, -1,000).
Women's enrollment stabilized, growing by 0.3% (+27,000), while men's enrollment continued to grow, increasing by 1.1% (+64,000).
More To The Story
Following the January enrollment estimates report, NSCRC also released an undergrad degree earners report this past month. It looked at four year degrees versus certificates earned through Community Colleges, vocational schools, and two-year programs.
What this report found is undergrad degree earners dropped for the second year in a row while noting, “More students earned a certificate this year than in any of the last ten years.”
Here’s a summary of that report:
Undergraduate degree earners decreased for the second consecutive year, dropping by 2.8% or 99,200 from the previous academic year.
First-time completers, comprising 73.3% of all completers, decreased by 73,600 (-2.8%).
More students earned certificates this year compared to the past decade, with a 6.2% increase (+26,900) in those earning their first-ever award.
This growth in certificate earners over two years amounted to a 13.1% increase (+53,600).
Conversely, fewer students earned associate degrees this year compared to the last decade, and bachelor's degree earners reached their lowest level since 2015-16.
The decline in graduates with a prior award is largely due to fewer students with an associate degree returning to earn their bachelor's (-3.3%, -14,000).
The number of students with a prior certificate who earned an associate degree fell for the first time since 2017-18 (-2.5%, -2,000).
Additionally, the number of bachelor's and/or master's degree holders returning to earn a certificate has started to decline (-3.7%, -3,100).
Half of the growth in first-time certificate earners is attributed to 18-20-year-olds (+11.3%, +13,900).
First-time associate completers in the 18-20 age group saw their first significant decline (-4.7%, -9,700) after stabilizing last year.
Declines among 21-24-year-old first-time associate degree completers doubled this year compared to the previous one (-9.5%, -21,600).
The two-year community colleges with a focus on vocational education seeing a 16% uptick in enrollment in fall 2023 is right in line with what “Dirty Jobs” star Mike Rowe has been attacked for saying out loud.
He and FOX News’ Stuart Varney talked about the high cost of college and how families are looking for a cheaper, more direct path to jobs that have real incomes.
“I think more and more people are starting to look at that diploma on the wall and seeing it for what it actually is, which is a receipt,” Rowe said.