College Enrollment Continues to Decline in CT and Nationwide

Enrollment declines continued to worsen this spring at colleges across the nation and in Connecticut for the just-concluded Spring semester, according to the latest numbers reported by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Total postsecondary enrollment fell to 16.2 million this spring, marking a one-year decline of 4.1 percent or 685,000 students. Enrollment declined this spring at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Following a 3.5 percent drop last spring, postsecondary institutions have lost nearly 1.3 million students since spring 2020.

The data also reveal that the number of women enrolled in college fell at a higher rate than did the number of men in spring 2022, as compared with the year before, the Chronicle of Higher Education recently noted.   And although first-year student enrollment was up in the spring of 2022 among nearly  all racial and ethnic groups, that was not true for Black students, whose numbers have fallen throughout the pandemic.

The newly released data shows that in Connecticut, Spring 2022 enrollment at public 2-year colleges (community colleges) dropped 7.2 percent, following a 17.4 percent decline in Spring 2021 and 5.9 percent in Spring 2020. 

At Connecticut’s 4-year public universities, enrollment during the Spring 2022 semester dropped 2.5 percent, following a 2.5 percent decrease the previous year, and a 2.3 percent drop in the preceding year. 

The declining enrollment was underway pre-pandemic, but officials indicate that the pandemic exacerbated the trend, which has yet to reverse.

The decline in student enrollment was not as steep at Private institutions in the state, with enrollment dropping by only 0.5% during the Spring 2022 semester, after declines of 2.5% and 1.6% in the previous Spring semesters. 

Local colleges — Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield and Manchester Community College — part of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system -were among the schools with the sharpest decline in students since the pandemic started, as well as over the past decade, the Journal Inquirer reported earlier this year. Asnuntuck has seen a 27.4% drop in full-time equivalent enrollment since 2019 and a 29.7% decrease over the past 10 years. MCC’s full-time equivalent enrollments have dropped 20.2% since 2019 and 44.3% since the fall of 2010.

The National Student Clearinghouse® Research Center™ is the research arm of the National Student Clearinghouse. The Research Center works with higher education institutions, states, districts, high schools, and educational organizations to better inform practitioners and policymakers about student educational pathways.