How the Pandemic Is Affecting College Enrollment
Over the course of the pandemic, 86 colleges shut down or merged with other schools with 53 colleges closing permanently! Most of these shutdowns occurred from a lack of students enrolling over the pandemic. From 2019 to 2021 undergraduate enrollment fell by nearly 8%! Colleges are still feeling the consequences of low enrollment, but things are still not improving.
In 2022 there are more than 1 million fewer students that are enrolled in college than there were before the pandemic began. In the fall of 2021, nearly 500,000 undergraduates dropped out of college, and more are dropping out this year with less students enrolling to fill their place. Most of this comes down to financial concerts that were brought on by the pandemic
56% of students said they needed to figure out a new way to pay for college due to financial impacts from COVID-19, and 70% said that affordability affected their education plans in 2021. Nearly 7% of students who were polled had already decided to unenroll in favor of finding full-time employment!
The financial cost of an education can be a serious factor when students are deciding whether or not they want to go to college. After the pandemic, many students are deciding that a degree is not worth the financial risk, and it is leading to more and more colleges needing to shut down. Learn more about this problem and what to do if your college is at risk of closing in the infographic below: