A Stunning Enrollment Surge

Postsecondary enrollment is up 4.5 percent this year, bringing the combined number of undergraduate and graduate students above 2019 numbers for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Undergraduate enrollment rose by 4.7 percent, though it remains 1 percent below 2019 levels. First-year undergraduate enrollment slightly surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time, rising by 5.5 percent.

It’s a long-awaited milestone, reached after years of sluggish post-pandemic recovery, that undermines predictions of enrollment decline due to the bungled rollout of a new Free Application for Federal Student Aid and mounting demographic challenges across the country.