College Enrollments Increased This Past Fall, the First Uptick Since the Pandemic

A new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center finds that undergraduate enrollment grew by 176,000 students. or 1.2 percent, in fall 2023. This was the first increase since the pandemic.

Among the three largest sectors, growth was highest at community colleges, which gained 118,000 students, or 2.6 percent, after steep declines during the pandemic. Public and private nonprofit 4-year institutions both saw smaller increases of 0.6 percent. Over two-thirds of states saw undergraduate enrollment growth this past fall.

Women’s enrollment stabilized this year with a small increase of 0.3 percent after large pandemic-era declines. Men’s enrollment continued to grow with 64,000 additional male student enrollments from a year ago. This was an increase of 1.1 percent.

At four-year public universities, women enrollments were down by 0.3 percent while men’s enrollments were up 0.2 percent. At private, not-for-profit four-year institutions women’s enrollments were down 0.6 percent. For men enrollments were up 1 percent.

At community colleges, women’s enrollments were up 2.6 compared to a 2 percent increase for men. At for-profit educational institutions, women enrollments were up 4.5 percent compared to a 2.4 percent increase for men.

In the fall of 2023, women’s enrollment in graduate education decreased by 0.4 percent, while male graduate students showed a 0.4 percent increase.