A new report finds that undergraduate college enrollment grew 3.5% to 15.3 million students this spring but remained about 378,000 students, or 2.4%, shy of 2020’s pre-pandemic tally.
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported Wednesday that a post-pandemic surge in community college enrollments for short-term certificates in skilled trades nevertheless boosted the total headcount in all higher education programs by 3.2% to 18.4 million. That’s an increase of roughly 562,000 students from spring 2024.
“This is great news for community colleges, and especially for those with strong vocational programs,” said Doug Shapiro, executive director of the nonprofit research center. “Four-year colleges can also feel good about higher numbers of undergraduates this spring, but their growth rates are slower.”
The report estimated that two-year community colleges experienced the largest growth, increasing by 5.4% or about 288,000 students from spring 2024.
The number of students enrolling in undergraduate certificate programs for short-term microcredentials in skilled trades also jumped 4.8% and was 20% higher than in spring 2020.
According to the clearinghouse, a 3.2% annual increase in undergraduates aged 21-24 and a 5.9% growth in those aged 25-29 this spring marked the “start of a recovery in spring enrollments after consistent declines since the pandemic.”
Previous clearinghouse reports found undergraduate college enrollment dropped 8% from fall 2019 to 2022, with declines even after in-person classes resumed.
Higher education has grappled with rising costs, declining revenues, shrinking enrollments, the expiration of pandemic relief funds, a spike in campuses merging or closing and record-low birth rates that signal more downsizing.
Experts interviewed by The Washington Times noted a growing demand since the pandemic for skilled trade jobs in repair and construction requiring only a high school diploma and a brief training program. Such jobs include plumbers, machinists and wind turbine technicians.
At the same time, they say young people have watched artificial intelligence take over many entry-level office tasks, making it harder to find white-collar jobs requiring a college degree.
“It’s a values shift recalibrating ambition around wellness, fulfillment, and practicality,” said Jack Mackinnon, senior director of cultural insights at Collage Group, a Maryland research firm. “They’re hyper vigilant about not following in the same footsteps as older generations if they see it as a dead-end for positive mental health.”
Thursday’s report noted that public two-year colleges with a vocational focus experienced an 11.7% enrollment increase, adding about 91,000 more students from a year ago and growing to nearly one-fifth of all community college enrollment.
That’s an increase of 20% or about 871,000 students enrolled in vocational programs from spring 2020.
The report echoes earlier figures showing a growing shift among young people from college degree programs to skills-based education.
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center estimated last month that 52,961 more students earned short-term microcredentials for skilled trades in 2023-24 than the year before, pushing the total to a 10-year high of 525,215.
By contrast, the tally of four-year bachelor’s degrees granted in 2023-24 dropped by 24,631 to 1.9 million, the lowest level since 2015-16. The count of two-year associate’s degrees awarded declined by 7,862 to 821,445, a 10-year low.
Peter Wood, president of the conservative National Association of Scholars, said the numbers confirm that students are waking up to the declining value that college degrees offer in exchange for mountains of student loan debt.
“No one needs the credentials to thrive in the marketplace or to live a good life,” said Mr. Wood, a former associate provost at private Boston University. “Each year, more and more people will recognize that pursuing a degree is a major expense without a commensurate reward and a diversion from better uses of their time and resources.”
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