Why college enrollment is declining and what we can do
College enrollment across our nation is in decline. Since 2011, overall enrollment in the United States has declined about 9 percent. Unfortunately, New Mexico’s decline is one the steepest in the nation. Here in New Mexico, we went from a 2011 total head count of 96,860 in all of our institutions to last year’s headcount of 86,883. The enrollment here at New Mexico Highlands University mirrors both statewide and national trends.
There is no shortage of explanations for these national, state and local trends. Nationally, most states have seen and continue to see a decrease in the number of high school students. There are simply fewer students to attempt to recruit. The value argument for attending college at all continues to be questioned. College costs continue to increase due in large measure to reduced state support. Here in New Mexico, we also face demographic challenges — losing population in some areas of the state — and a K-12 system recently ranked as one of the worst in the nation.
Think of college recruitment more systemically.
One of my first academic postings was in a town of about 15,000 residents. The town had an assortment of businesses on the prominent square and a few newer businesses on the periphery of the city limits. The surrounding area was pretty rural. Though the town was not large, people drove some distance to shop, see doctors and engage in some fun activities like movies and restaurants. The town also had a statesupported, comprehensive university. While it was in the Midwest, it sounds like some of our towns, no?
Like clockwork, students would return each fall to campus, and the town experienced a significant increase in population, commerce and associated revenue. The folks on campus and the residents of the town did not really collaborate much to recruit students or convince them to stay until they graduated. It wasn’t required. The students just showed up, and most years there were more of them than the previous year.
This kind of arrangement was very common — in the past. Not so today. Most campuses are scrambling to meet enrollment goals, and many towns where those colleges are located feel the pinch as enrollments decline. These challenges are daunting and require new thinking, new strategies and new collaborations.
These new collaborations will not work if we continue with the old ways of thinking and behaving. Calls for colleges and universities to somehow grow without careful planning from all community partners are likely to fail. Assertions from college officials that community services and programs are not in line with the needs and interests of students are unhelpful. We simply must think about this problem in a much more systemic way. Pronouns are important here — what can we do to promote our communities and attract students? Think pre-K to 16 The students we teach in higher education, of course, come to us from some K-12 system. If we enroll students from good high schools with high standards and high overall performance, our students tend to do well. Conversely, when
we enroll students from schools struggling with resources, dated technology and materials and low levels of academic achievement, they often struggle with the realities of post-secondary expectations. As an open-access institution, Highlands enrolls both types of students, and I am not interested in altering that mission.
During my career, I’ve seen a great deal of counterproductive finger-pointing. Those in higher education sometimes blame K-12 schools for doing such a poor job, and some in K-12 assert that higher education professionals have devoted too little energy and resources to supporting students who struggle. A K-12 teacher once told me that we in higher education have no trouble teaching students starting on second base — students fully prepared for college work who are often from middle class or wealthy families — but that we have a terrible record when it comes to students starting at home plate — students without advantages and facing academic challenges. I have not seen things improve when this type of blame game is played out. The blame goes around and around, and in the end, most players feel bad and nothing gets better.
In most states, there is a pretty bright line between the K-12 and higher education communities. The two just don’t work together that much. Indeed, here in New Mexico where I’ve worked two years, I’ve attended dozens and dozens of higher education meetings and maybe two in conjunction with our statewide K-12 agency.
In Las Vegas, I’ve proposed a town-grown commission designed to work together on common interests between the town, our area school districts and the university. But we need to go further. New Mexico’s educational and economic opportunities won’t happen when each party operates in a silo. Our combined commitment and creativity is bound to produce some good outcomes for all our state’s citizens. Let’s do what we can to turn this around.