2024 Fall Enrollment Increases, But Not Among First-Year Students
Credit: Jumping Rocks / Universal Images Group / Getty Images- Enrollment is on the rise at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
- However, these gains come despite a drop in first-year student enrollment.
- Primarily online institutions reported a 6.3% increase in enrollment this fall compared to last year.
- HBCUs, meanwhile, reported a similarly strong 5.9% increase in enrollment.
U.S. college enrollment continued an upward trend in fall 2024, increasing 3% from last year among undergraduate students and 2.1% among graduate students.
Preliminary enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found positive signs for higher education enrollment at nearly all levels.
However, one worrying sign was a 5% drop in enrollment among first-year students compared to fall 2023, and an even steeper drop in first-year students at universities that enroll a high percentage of Pell Grant-eligible students.
First-year student enrollment fell 10.4% at public, four-year universities with a high percentage of Pell-eligible students and 10.7% at four-year private, nonprofit universities with a higher percentage of Pell-eligible students.
Community colleges with a high percentage of Pell-eligible students, however, grew enrollment among first-year students by 1.2%.
The National College Attainment Network (NCAN) pointed out that this decrease comes on the heels of a turbulent rollout of the 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). BestColleges previously reported that experts worried that FAFSA-related issues may lead to a decline in enrollment.
FAFSA completions for newly graduated high school seniors were down 9% by the start of the academic year, per NCAN.
These declines may also be the first signs of the impending enrollment cliff.
Still, overall trends were mostly positive outside of first-year students.
The National Student Clearinghouse found enrollment increases among every institution type. Additionally, enrollment is on the rise for every type of credential, including associate (4.3%), bachelor’s (1.9%), master’s (2.2%), and doctoral (1.9%) degrees.
Undergraduate certificate enrollment grew the most, with a 7.3% year-over-year increase.
Primarily online institutions reported sizable gains.
Fall enrollment at these institutions increased 6.3% compared to last year, building on a 6.8% increase from the year prior. From fall 2022 to fall 2024, total enrollment at primarily online colleges and universities increased 13.6%.
Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) also reported healthy gains in fall 2024. HBCU enrollment grew 5.9% from last year, and HSI enrollment rose 3.1%.
One surprising decline was the continued drop in enrollment of white students.
White student enrollment fell 0.6% in fall 2024, according to the National Student Clearinghouse. Student groups of every other race/ethnicity reported gains, and white student enrollment declines also come after a 2.2% drop among white students in fall 2023.
Over the last two years, white student enrollment has fallen 2.8% while all other race/ethnic student groups reported gains of at least 6%.
This may come as a surprise to those tracking enrollment after the U.S. Supreme Court banned the consideration of race in college admissions, commonly referred to as affirmative action, in June 2023.
Still, the impact of this decision may have ripple effects over the next few years and may not be immediately apparent with the fall 2024 class.