First-time college enrollment is falling fast; down more than 5% last year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The American Dream is over. America is no longer a meritocracy where through hard work you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps and make a future for you and your family.

America has never been a meritocracy. If you were white, male, rich, you started off way ahead of others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thesis of this thread is incorrect. It was a data error.

Freshman college enrollment was on the upswing in the fall, not declining as the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported in October, the prominent research group said Monday.

The organization, which produces widely used data on college enrollment, said a “methodological error” skewed its preliminary calculation of the number of first-year students who enrolled in fall 2024. The center initially said freshman enrollment dropped 5 percent, the first decline since the pandemic and an apparent indication of the fallout from the troubled rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

In a written statement, the center’s executive director, Doug Shapiro, said some students were mislabeled as dual-enrolled in high school and college classes, rather than as college freshmen, and “as a result, the number of freshmen was undercounted, and the number of dual-enrolled was overcounted.” The mistake inflated the number of high school students taking college classes through dual enrollment and affected the organization’s analysis of enrollment trends among 18-year-old freshmen.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/01/14/college-freshman-enrollment-increase-data-error/

Hilarious - no one even responded. One simple Google search proved your correction accurate:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2025/05/22/college-enrollment--increases-again-approaching--pre-pandemic-levels/

Youtube link from OP? 7 months old
Forbes article? May 2025
Numbers:

"The nation’s colleges and universities received good news on the enrollment front.

Total college enrollment grew by 3.2% this spring compared to spring 2024 and now stands at about 18.4 million students nationally, just 0.9% less than the prepandemic level of spring 2020. This year’s gain is equivalent to about 562,000 students.

The latest numbers are contained in the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s Current Term Enrollment Estimates Spring 2025 report. Undergraduate enrollment grew 3.5%, reaching 15.3 million, which is about 2.4% (378,000 students) fewer than the pre-pandemic level..."


lol

Enrollment in graduate programs increased 1.5% (46,000 more students) compared to last year. Graduate enrollment now totals slightly more than 3.1 million, 7.2% higher than in 2020. That cumulative gain represents 209,000 more graduate students than the pre-pandemic number.

It's strangely typical of DCUM, so perhaps a reflection of how people see DCUM postings.

So, the thesis of this entire thread is incorrect...yet numerous postings just double and triple down on the original heading.

[Anonymous]

What impact, if any, will the reduction in student visas have on college admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The American Dream is over. America is no longer a meritocracy where through hard work you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps and make a future for you and your family.

America has never been a meritocracy. If you were white, male, rich, you started off way ahead of others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pricing out the donut hole family. Got it. It just sucks to be us in every way, shape, and form.

Not poor enough to get FA, but not rich enough to front $30k every year for 4 yrs for in state tuition, and feeling bummed about the frugality and tons of sacrifices over the decades to just to fund 529s, retirement, and general monthly expenses.

YEP. The "regular" families get screwed over and over, including for college. We are living this right now.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The American Dream is over. America is no longer a meritocracy where through hard work you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps and make a future for you and your family.

Baloney. I work with (legal status) refugees where they come not knowing the language, plucked out of refugee camps where they have never even seen a cell phone contract or bill. Within 5-10 years all of my families have managed to buy a house, kids are fluent and being educated, everyone is working and getting by even with lower paying jobs.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The American Dream is over. America is no longer a meritocracy where through hard work you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps and make a future for you and your family.

America has never been a meritocracy. If you were white, male, rich, you started off way ahead of others.

I dont know about meritocracy but both my husband and I came here for masters programs , worked hard and have a decent net worth, so I feel this country does something right. America gives you many more chances than any other country does. Yes, we worked in jobs we did not like for 10 years due to visa issues but have done generally well after that. However, we were lucky not to have undergrad student loans. The price of undergrad education has become very limiting for many but if you look past the top 50 colleges there are still some great value colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pricing out the donut hole family. Got it. It just sucks to be us in every way, shape, and form.

Not poor enough to get FA, but not rich enough to front $30k every year for 4 yrs for in state tuition, and feeling bummed about the frugality and tons of sacrifices over the decades to just to fund 529s, retirement, and general monthly expenses.

You should be immensely grateful to not be poor.

Screw you. You don't get to tell people how to feel. When others are getting FA to go for free and you're footing $30k/year after scrimping and saving for 20 years to be able to fund a 529. But "poof" others just get the same education for free. It's not ok.

What is your solution? Free college for all or no FA at all? Let's see who you are.

There is no universe where my housekeeper's kid should go to college for free while I have to pay her salary and my kid's tuition!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pricing out the donut hole family. Got it. It just sucks to be us in every way, shape, and form.

Not poor enough to get FA, but not rich enough to front $30k every year for 4 yrs for in state tuition, and feeling bummed about the frugality and tons of sacrifices over the decades to just to fund 529s, retirement, and general monthly expenses.

You should be immensely grateful to not be poor.

Screw you. You don't get to tell people how to feel. When others are getting FA to go for free and you're footing $30k/year after scrimping and saving for 20 years to be able to fund a 529. But "poof" others just get the same education for free. It's not ok.

What is your solution? Free college for all or no FA at all? Let's see who you are.

There is no universe where my housekeeper's kid should go to college for free while I have to pay her salary and my kid's tuition!

This is pretty amusing trolling. Well done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pricing out the donut hole family. Got it. It just sucks to be us in every way, shape, and form.

Not poor enough to get FA, but not rich enough to front $30k every year for 4 yrs for in state tuition, and feeling bummed about the frugality and tons of sacrifices over the decades to just to fund 529s, retirement, and general monthly expenses.

You should be immensely grateful to not be poor.

Screw you. You don't get to tell people how to feel. When others are getting FA to go for free and you're footing $30k/year after scrimping and saving for 20 years to be able to fund a 529. But "poof" others just get the same education for free. It's not ok.

What is your solution? Free college for all or no FA at all? Let's see who you are.

There is no universe where my housekeeper's kid should go to college for free while I have to pay her salary and my kid's tuition!

Your housekeeper’s kid has to be a strong enough student to get merit at a top 75 school.

The vast majority of student loans are kids attending a regional college that costs $10k per year who have to borrow nearly 100% to attend.

If it makes you feel better…that’s the profile of your housekeeper’s kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pricing out the donut hole family. Got it. It just sucks to be us in every way, shape, and form.

Not poor enough to get FA, but not rich enough to front $30k every year for 4 yrs for in state tuition, and feeling bummed about the frugality and tons of sacrifices over the decades to just to fund 529s, retirement, and general monthly expenses.

You should be immensely grateful to not be poor.

Screw you. You don't get to tell people how to feel. When others are getting FA to go for free and you're footing $30k/year after scrimping and saving for 20 years to be able to fund a 529. But "poof" others just get the same education for free. It's not ok.

What is your solution? Free college for all or no FA at all? Let's see who you are.

There is no universe where my housekeeper's kid should go to college for free while I have to pay her salary and my kid's tuition!

Your housekeepers kid is likely much smarter than yours if this is the case and I suspect that it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My question is this:

What does this mean for college admissions for next year?

Please note:
Community college enrollment is way up.
This is fabulous news!

Enough with scamming kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pricing out the donut hole family. Got it. It just sucks to be us in every way, shape, and form.

Not poor enough to get FA, but not rich enough to front $30k every year for 4 yrs for in state tuition, and feeling bummed about the frugality and tons of sacrifices over the decades to just to fund 529s, retirement, and general monthly expenses.

You should be immensely grateful to not be poor.

Screw you. You don't get to tell people how to feel. When others are getting FA to go for free and you're footing $30k/year after scrimping and saving for 20 years to be able to fund a 529. But "poof" others just get the same education for free. It's not ok.

What is your solution? Free college for all or no FA at all? Let's see who you are.

There is no universe where my housekeeper's kid should go to college for free while I have to pay her salary and my kid's tuition!

How should it work, then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Admission will not get easier but smaller non prestigious private schools are going to shut down. The students that would have went to those schools will be pushed into larger universities and community colleges.

So, you do not believe that admissions are going to get easier across the entire range of colleges in the USA?

Not at the top colleges.
Most other colleges will be easier, especially if you are full pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thesis of this thread is incorrect. It was a data error.

Freshman college enrollment was on the upswing in the fall, not declining as the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported in October, the prominent research group said Monday.

The organization, which produces widely used data on college enrollment, said a “methodological error” skewed its preliminary calculation of the number of first-year students who enrolled in fall 2024. The center initially said freshman enrollment dropped 5 percent, the first decline since the pandemic and an apparent indication of the fallout from the troubled rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

In a written statement, the center’s executive director, Doug Shapiro, said some students were mislabeled as dual-enrolled in high school and college classes, rather than as college freshmen, and “as a result, the number of freshmen was undercounted, and the number of dual-enrolled was overcounted.” The mistake inflated the number of high school students taking college classes through dual enrollment and affected the organization’s analysis of enrollment trends among 18-year-old freshmen.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/01/14/college-freshman-enrollment-increase-data-error/

Hilarious - no one even responded. One simple Google search proved your correction accurate:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2025/05/22/college-enrollment--increases-again-approaching--pre-pandemic-levels/

Youtube link from OP? 7 months old
Forbes article? May 2025
Numbers:

"The nation’s colleges and universities received good news on the enrollment front.

Total college enrollment grew by 3.2% this spring compared to spring 2024 and now stands at about 18.4 million students nationally, just 0.9% less than the prepandemic level of spring 2020. This year’s gain is equivalent to about 562,000 students.

The latest numbers are contained in the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s Current Term Enrollment Estimates Spring 2025 report. Undergraduate enrollment grew 3.5%, reaching 15.3 million, which is about 2.4% (378,000 students) fewer than the pre-pandemic level..."


lol

Enrollment in graduate programs increased 1.5% (46,000 more students) compared to last year. Graduate enrollment now totals slightly more than 3.1 million, 7.2% higher than in 2020. That cumulative gain represents 209,000 more graduate students than the pre-pandemic number.

A new post should be started with this info and the info provided by the poster you responded to.