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Adam Theron-Lee Rensch
Higher education in the United States is in crisis – at least, a part of it. Specifically, institutions serving predominately low-income and working-class students have faced major declines in attendance. From 2010 to 2021, enrollment at public two-year colleges dropped by 37%, going from 7.2 million to 4.4 million.1 At public four-year universities, meanwhile, total undergraduate enrollment fell by 15% from 18.1 million to 15.4 million.2 These declines varied geographically, with states such as Alaska, Iowa, Michigan, and New Mexico seeing between a 30% and 45% drop in attendance.
While the most recent numbers have revealed a slight recovery, the long-term forecast is less optimistic: due to declining birth rates, the college-aged population is expected to peak in the next few years and will likely decrease by up to 25% by the end of the 2030s.
