Study Finds Significant Growth in Black Student Postsecondary Enrollment

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center has released new data on higher education enrollment estimates for the spring 2025 semester, including information on trends regarding Black student enrollment in recent years.

Overall, postsecondary enrollment in the United States grew by 3.2 percent since the spring 2024 semester. Undergraduate enrollment grew by 3.5 percent and graduate enrollment increased by 1.5 percent. While overall undergraduate enrollment remains 2.4 percent below pre-pandemic levels, total graduate enrollment has grown by 7.2 percent since spring 2020.

Across all major racial groups, Black students experienced the largest growth in both undergraduate and graduate enrollment, increasing by 10.3 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively, since spring 2024. Additionally, Black student enrollment has now surpassed pre-pandemic levels, experiencing a 0.9 percent increase in undergraduate enrollment and  a significant 21.9 percent increase in graduate enrollment since spring 2020.

Notably, Black student enrollment increased across all institutional sectors over the past year. Private for-profit four-year institutions saw the largest growth in their Black student enrollment. At these institutions, Black undergraduate enrollment experienced an increase of 10.9 percent from spring 2024 and a staggering 45.2 percent increase from spring 2020. For graduate enrollment at private for-profit four-year institutions, Black student enrollment grew by 11.9 percent from spring 2024 and 21.7 percent from spring 2020.

At public four-year institutions, Black student enrollment has grown since spring 2020, with the largest gains seen at the graduate level. Black student enrollment has also increased at private nonprofit four-year institutions for both undergraduate and graduate populations. Two-year institutions experienced growth in their Black student enrollment over the past year, but remain below pre-pandemic levels.