Inside Higher Ed
January 10, 2022 Admissions, Enrollment Management Trends
A new report shows an unprecedented decline in college enrollment among high school graduates. College enrollment by the high school class of 2020 showed a decline between 4 and 10 percentage points. Preliminary data show freshman enrollment declined by 2.7 percent last fall. Overall postsecondary enrollment fell by 2.6 percent compared to 2020. Immediate enrollment fell from 55 percent to 45 percent between 2019 and 2020.
Inside Higher Ed
January 05, 2022 Student Success, Value and Affordability
The pandemic illuminates the issues faced by low-income, first-generation or racial minority students. Students face issues like affordability, maintaining their enrollment status, and other academic and personal concerns. Colleges face structural barriers that drive inequity, including the pandemic and a long-overdue racial reckoning. Universities use continuous improvement to improve affordability, teaching and learning, and holistic student support.
Higher Ed. Dive
January 04, 2022 Pre-College Outreach, Admissions
Highly personalized methods for enrolling students are expensive and difficult for institutions to scale. Virtual outreach tools like social media and online campus tours are particularly effective. Institutions need to employ a dynamic model for determining enrollment. They should be the ones to choose how many variables to include in the model as they pinpoint student enrollment patterns. Predictive models will help even if the pandemic has upended the traditional factors for forecasting enrollment.
Higher Ed. Dive
December 02, 2021 Student Success, Value and Affordability
A new survey of “disengaged learners” found financial reasons to be the top cause for stepping away. The longer a former student stays away, the less likely they are to reenroll. Reaching personal goals are a deciding factor for returning students. More than half of respondents were full-time employees in the retail or food industry, with a yearly household income of $50,000 or less. Institutions can offer the following to entice students to return: certificates for credits earned, less expensive classes, workshops to address students’ problems, counseling and help through concierge services.
Higher Ed. Dive
November 29, 2021 Admissions, Enrollment Management Trends
Only a small fraction of colleges accepting the Common Application required first-year undergraduates to submit admissions exam scores during the 2021-22 season. Just 5% of member colleges mandated test scores, falling from 11% in the 2020-21 admissions year. Testing experts predict that test-optional policies will remain as the health crisis subsides.
Higher Ed. Dive
November 08, 2021 Research, Value and Affordability
The share of students selected for verification has reduced from 40% to 23% this year, due to reduced requirements because of the pandemic. However, the agency wants to resume full verification for the next cycle. Majority of students selected for verification are Pell grant recipients. However, the federal government should allow the IRS to share income data with the Education Department to eliminate the verification requirement for these students.
Inside Higher Ed
November 02, 2021 Enrollment Management Trends, Value and Affordability
The National Education Equity Lab has created a model for helping low-income high school students and elite colleges connect. This model was designed to scale courses offered at elite colleges using Zoom to deliver them asynchronously to high school students nationwide. Since 2019, approximately 8,000 students received these courses. Participating universities provide classes at no cost. School districts pay a nominal amount to participate.
Inside Higher Ed
October 26, 2021 Admissions, Enrollment Management Trends
Undergraduate enrollment fell by 3.2% this fall. Since fall 2019, undergraduate enrollments have dropped by 6.5%. Wealthy and prestigious institutions have nearly recovered their lost enrollments. Certain highly selective institutions had increased enrollment this fall. Public two-year institutions continue to face declines, with a net decline of 14.1% since 2019. Black and white students saw the largest undergraduate enrollment declines.
Higher Ed. Dive
October 20, 2021 Enrollment Management Trends, Research
According to an annual report from NC-SARA, student enrollment in exclusively distance education saw a significant increase in 2020. The share of EDE students increased from 53.7% to 67.6% for students attending college in their home state. These trends are likely to continue beyond the pandemic. Nearly 6 in 10 institutions plan to continue offering remote learning after the health crisis ends.
Higher Ed. Dive
October 13, 2021 Admissions, Enrollment Management Trends
The average composite score fell from 20.6 to 20.3 compared to last year. Average scores dropped in every racial and ethnic groups except Asian and American-Indian/Alaskan Native students. For fall 2022, more than 1,780 institutions have moved to test-optional or test-free admissions. Fewer students who used the Common App submitted admissions scores in the last academic year, of which the lowest reporting rates were from students in the bottom quintile of the median household.