Spring undergraduate enrollment down across the United States

Undergraduate enrollment is down this spring across the United States, especially at community colleges, according to preliminary data published Thursday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Overall, undergraduate enrollment is down 4.5% this term compared to spring 2021, according to the preliminary data. Community colleges have been the most impacted, with enrollment at those colleges down by 9.5% compared to a year ago.

Those trends mirror the enrollment changes in fall 2020, when enrollment was down across the country’s public four-year colleges and especially among community colleges.

It’s not yet clear how enrollment has changed this spring at California’s public colleges and universities. In the fall, undergraduate enrollment was up slightly across the University of California and California State University. However, enrollment dropped significantly at the state’s community colleges, with some colleges losing 20% or more students compared to fall 2019.