A new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center finds that enrollments at U.S. colleges and universities are down by 1.1 percent this fall. This follows far greater declines in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
Black enrollments are down by 1.6 percent this fall compared to a year ago. White enrollments have dropped by 3.6 percent. Since 2020, Black enrollments have declined by 6.9 percent compared to 9.6 percent for Whites.
Black enrollments at public, four-year institutions are down by 3.5 percent this fall. This is slightly larger than the decline for Whites. But Black enrollments decreased slightly at private, nonprofit educational institutions, compared to a drop of 3 percent for Whites. Black enrollments in community colleges are up slightly compared to a drop of 4.7 percent for Whites.
This fall, Black enrollments in graduate school are down by 1.9 percent. For Whites, graduate enrollments are down 5 percent. Since 2020, Black enrollments in graduate school are down by 0.3 percent compared to a drop of 4.1 percent for Whites.
Undergraduate enrollments at historically Black colleges and universities are up 2.5 percent this fall after a drop of 1.7 percent a year ago. Graduate enrollments at HBCUs are down 3.9 percent this fall compared to an increase of 2.1 percent a year ago.
