K-12 Enrollment Lagged Projections By 2% in 2021, Revealing College Pipeline Cracks

The K-12 pipeline’s health has been a top concern for colleges since the pandemic started disrupting education in 2020. Struggling students today can mean lower high school graduation rates in the future — and most colleges overwhelmingly depend on high school graduates to build each fall’s incoming class. WICHE has become a go-to source of K-12 enrollment data and projections for college leaders who want to understand what future years are likely to bring. Its previous projections showed high school graduates peaking in 2025 and becoming much more diverse.