Men's College Enrollment Rate Falls to 38-Year Low

The percentage of male high school graduates who enroll in college soon after graduating from high school fell to the lowest level in almost 40 years, according to government data. Among 16-to-24-year-old men who graduated from high school in 2021, just 54.9 percent had enrolled in college by October of that year. The 2021 enrollment rate is a hefty 4.4 percentage points below the 2020 figure and fully 12.5 percentage points below the all-time high recorded in 2016. Not since 1983 has the male enrollment rate been lower.

Male college enrollment rate for selected years 

2021: 54.9%

2020: 59.3%

2016: 67.4% (record high)

2010: 62.8%

2000: 59.9%

1990: 58.0%

1980: 46.7%

1970: 55.2%

1960: 54.0%

Note: The college enrollment rate is the percentage of 16-to-24-year-olds who graduated from high school in a given year and were enrolled in college by October of that year. 

While men's college enrollment rate fell between 2020 and 2021, the enrollment rate of women increased by 3.3 percentage points to 69.5 percent. Women's 2021 rate is not far from the all-time high of 74.0 percent reached in 2010. 

The gap between women's and men's college enrollment rates has never been larger. With an enrollment rate of 69.5 percent for women and just 54.9 percent for men in 2021, the difference between women's and men's college enrollment rates is nearly 15 percentage points.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, TED: The Economics Daily, 61.8 Percent of Recent High School Graduates Enrolled in College in October 2021, and National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, Table 302.10

Two-Year Colleges Thrashed by Economy, Pandemic

College enrollment in the United States is on the decline. The number of undergraduates in the nation's colleges reached an all-time high in 2011 as widespread unemployment in the aftermath of the Great Recession boosted enrollment, especially at two-year schools. Since then, undergraduate college enrollment has fallen by 17 percent, with two-year schools getting the worst of it. 

The biggest drivers of enrollment at two-year colleges are current events—such as recessions and pandemics. When unemployment is high, two-year college enrollment grows. When jobs are plentiful or a pandemic sweeps the country, two-year enrollment falls. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, enrollment at two-year colleges surged. At the 2010 peak, 5.9 million students were enrolled at two-year schools. Since that peak, enrollment at two-year schools has fallen by 37 percent. Between 2019 and 2020, two-year schools saw the biggest decline in their enrollment on record—a loss of 588,000 students.

Two-year college enrollment for selected years

2020: 3.7 million

2019: 4.3 million

2010: 5.9 million (peak year)

2006: 4.3 million (pre-Great Recession)

Percent change from peak year, 2010 to 2020: -36.6%

Four-year college enrollment for selected years

2020: 10.1 million

2019: 10.3 million

2016: 11.2 million (peak year)

2006: 9.6 million (pre-Great Recession)

Percent change from peak year, 2016 to 2020: -9.6%

While current events have some influence on enrollment at four-year colleges, demographics play a bigger role. Enrollment of undergraduates at four-year schools did not peak until 2016, just as the number of 18-to-24-year-olds crested in the U.S. population. Since the 2016 peak year, enrollment has fallen just 10 percent—less than a third of the drop at two-year schools. The pandemic has had only a modest impact on four-year schools. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of undergraduates enrolled at four-year colleges fell by 2 percent versus the 14 percent decline at two-year schools.

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the Census Bureau's School Enrollment Data

Big Drop in School Enrollment in 2020

The number of Americans aged 3 or older enrolled in school fell from 76 million in 2019 to 73 million in 2020—a decline of 2.9 million. Behind the decline was the coronavirus pandemic, which not only turned learning virtual but also kept many from going to school at all. 

Most of the decline in school enrollment occurred among the youngest students. The number of children enrolled in nursery school or kindergarten fell by 1.5 million between 2019 and 2020, accounting for 54 percent of the overall decline in enrollment. The enrollment rate of 3-to-4-year-olds plunged from 54 to just 40 percent—the first time since 1996 that the enrollment rate of the age group has been below 50 percent. 

Percentage of 3-to-4-year-olds who were enrolled in nursery school/kindergarten

2020: 40.3%

2019: 53.7%

Enrollment in the nation's colleges fell from 18.3 million in 2019 to 17.7 million in 2020. Two-year colleges accounted for most of the decline. Two-year schools lost 588,000 students between 2019 and 2020, the largest drop in two-year college enrollment in the Census Bureau's data series. Four-year college enrollment fell by 172,000—less than the 301,000 decline between 2018 and 2019. Graduate schools bucked the trend, their enrollment growing by 145,000 in 2020. 

School enrollment in 2020 (and percent change since 2019)

Total enrolled: 73,222,000 (-3.8%)

Nursery/kindergarten: 7,242,000 (-17.6%)

Elementary school: 32,046,000 (-1.9%)

High school: 16,259,000 (-0.8%)

College: 17,674,000 (-3.4%)

Source: Census Bureau, School Enrollment in the United States: October 2020—Detailed Tables

College Enrollment Has Dropped

Undergraduate enrollment at institutions of higher education was 4 percent lower as of September 24, 2020, than one year earlier, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The Clearinghouse updates its enrollment data monthly as it tracks the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation's colleges. The data are submitted by Title IV degree-granting institutions in the U.S. that participate in the Clearinghouse. Fifty-four percent of institutions submitted data for the September update.

The biggest enrollment drop has taken place at community colleges. At the end of September, enrollment in community colleges was 9.4 percent lower than one year earlier. Undergraduate enrollment was down 2.0 percent at private, nonprofit four-year schools, and it has fallen 1.4 percent at public four-year schools. 

The Clearinghouse reports that the biggest enrollment drop is among first-time beginning students, with enrollment as of September 24, 2020, fully 16.1 percent below the level one year earlier. First-time beginning students account for 69 percent of the decline in undergraduate enrollment nationwide. 

The undergraduate enrollment decline is similar in every age group, but is greater for males (6.4 percent) than for females (2.2 percent). By race and Hispanic origin, the decline is greater for Blacks (7.9 percent), non-Hispanic whites (7.6 percent), and Hispanics (6.1 percent) than for Asians (4.0 percent). By far the biggest enrollment decline of all was among international students, with 13.6 percent fewer enrolled as undergraduates in the nation's colleges in September 2020 than in September 2019.

Source: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, Covid-19, Stay Informed with the Latest Enrollment Information