College enrollment dropping
3,000 fewer students in Conn. colleges this year as national decline continues
About 3,000 fewer students attended Connecticut colleges this fall compared to last year, as enrollment in the state declined at a slightly higher rate than the national trend, according to a new report released Monday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
Fall 2019 enrollment at the state’s colleges fell by 1.6 percent in the last year. Nationally, “overall postsecondary enrollments decreased 1.3 percent, or more than 231,000 students from the previous fall to 17.9 million students.” This was the first time in a decade that fall enrollment fell below 18 million, the report said.
The number of college students in the U.S. has fallen by about 10 percent since fall 2012. In Connecticut, it’s dropped by about 6.5 percent in that time, from nearly 197,000 students to 183,981 students this year.
That’s due in part to demographic changes: lower birth rates 18 to 20 years ago resulted in fewer high school students now, said Allison Buckley, vice president for Enrollment Management at the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System. That “demographic trough” is a national issue, but is particularly bad in certain pockets, including New England. Connecticut public schools enrolled nearly 20,000 fewer students in 2018 than they did in 2013, according to the state Department of Education.
A strong economy with low unemployment is also a factor. During the recession, college enrollment rose, especially at community colleges, according to a 2018 report from the U.S. Census Bureau. As the labor market has improved, enrollment has declined and fewer people have left the workforce to return to college.
High costs of college also deter students: prices at the state’s
public and private colleges have risen and Connecticut graduates have the highest average student debt in the country, according to The Institute for College Access & Success. Fiftynine percent of 2018 graduates from Connecticut colleges had student debt, which averaged $38,669.
Enrollment dropped nationally at both public and private colleges, according to the National Student Clearinghouse report. The largest declines were in the private forprofit sector, followed by public two and fouryear schools and private, nonprofit colleges.
The CSCU system reported in October that enrollment at its two and fouryear colleges fell by nearly 4 percent from fall 2018 to fall 2019.
Buckley said the system is working to improve how it serves and retains students. That includes looking to better meet the needs of adult students, redesigning the academic advising system, evaluating the onboarding process to help students better acclimate to college and working on wraparound services to meet students’ nonacademic needs. Addressing issues such as food insecurity can help students focus on school and be successful, she said.
They’re also making plans to launch debtfree community college this fall, after it was passed by the state legislature last spring. The lastdollar program for firsttime, fulltime students will cover any remaining tuition after federal, state and institutional aid is applied. About 60 percent of current fulltime students already pay no tuition and fees due to financial aid.
That program is expected to boost enrollment at the community colleges, though it may cause “a temporary enrollment challenge for the state universities,” Buckley said. “Most of these students will be looking to transfer, because their ultimate educational goal is a baccalaureate degree,” she said, so “that short term dip flattens out very very quickly.”
CSCU transfer programs are intended to help students easily transition from community colleges to public fouryear universities, and some private schools are also forming similar transfer agreements.
That includes schools such as Sacred Heart University, Quinnipiac University and University of Saint Joseph, Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges President Jennifer Widness said.
The private sector hasn’t been hit quite as hard by enrollment declines as their public peers, and many have seen increases in recent years, but they’re not immune from the demographic challenges, Widness said.
Quinnipiac, which for years was known for its growth, made budget cuts this fall due to lowerthanexpected enrollment. They attributed it to higher academic standards for admitted students and improved fouryear graduation rates, but said that resulted in “budget implications.” The school has “enhanced our recruitment efforts outside the northeast,” spokesman John Morgan said Monday, and has developed “seamless transfer agreements” with three community colleges in an effort to bring in local students.
With the pool of students shrinking, private colleges are providing more aid to be accessible to more students, she said, and they’re evaluating how to support adult learners. CCIC schools have doubled their aid money in the last 10 years, Widness said.
They’re also adding offerings in highdemand fields like health sciences, entrepreneurship, engineering and computer science to attract students, she said.
Despite the declining numbers statewide, some private colleges have continued to grow. Fairfield University and Sacred Heart University said this summer that they were expecting to enroll their largest freshman classes ever this fall.
Other Connecticut colleges have changed who they enroll to fill their classes: University of Saint Joseph, a former women’s college, began accepting men last year to attract both male students and female students who want a coed experience.
New York and Massachusetts both experienced enrollment drops this year similar to Connecticut’s, by 1.8 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. Fifteen states saw enrollment rise from 2018 to 2019, including Rhode Island, where it increased by 0.3 percent, and New Hampshire, which saw a 3.4 percent increase.
High schools and scholarship organizations in the state are also working to help more students apply to and enroll in college, and improve their persistence through a degree.
For Connecticut schools, “the real growth is in students of color coming from urban cities,” said Patricia Melton, executive director of the New Haven Promise scholarship program. Wealthier students are choosing elite private schools in other states, while state schools are enrolling more workingclass students from urban centers, she said, so attracting and then keeping those students is key.
“If you look at the number of kids going to college and how many drop out in the first year or two, if you retain those kids you don’t have to grow the population,” she said.
Programs such as the Promise, which offers New Haven public school graduates free tuition for four years if they have a demonstrated track record in academics, discipline and attendance, help prepare students who will persist in Connecticut colleges and universities once they enroll, Melton said. Students must have a 3.0 minimum grade point average, which she said is a good predictor of whether they’ll pursue a degree for four years.
The program is funded by public and private money and has multiple university partnerships. Frequent messaging about the Promise scholarship in New Haven schools has made students aware of its existence, Melton said.
Officials in Stamford also piloted a publicprivate partnership to encourage more college attendance this summer.
Four school districts in Connecticut – Waterbury, Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford partake in a partnership program called Cradle to Career, a network program of the Strive Together community network organization. This summer, Stamford debuted a program called Bridge to College designed to combat the “summer melt” when wouldbe collegegoers lose sight of their goal of enrolling for various reasons.
The students targeted by the program, which was modeled after one in Albany, N.Y., are mostly firstgeneration college students who lack traditional supports at home, according to Coordinator for College and Career Readiness Rebecca Wilson. The majority of these students have not completed their financial aid applications during the school year, and are left to fill it out on their own without the help of a school counselor during the summer months.