The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center has released a new report on higher education enrollments. Undergraduate enrollment grew for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic this fall with an increase of 2.1 percent. Community colleges are starting to recover from the pandemic showing a growth of 4.4 percent this fall.
But this news is tempered by the fact that first-year enrollments declined by 3.6 percent, reversing fall 2022 gains of 4.6 percent.
Black, Latinx, and Asian students accounted for most of the undergraduate and graduate enrollment growth this fall. Black enrollments were up 2.1 percent. Black enrollments climbed due to large increases in enrollment from students in the top income brackets.
Enrollment of White students continued to decline by 0.9 percent. But there was a huge drop in White first-year enrollments of 9.4 percent.
Black enrollments in graduate programs is up 2.1 percent this fall. White graduate enrollment dropped by 1.9 percent.
