Postsecondary enrollments decreased 1.3 percent

Complete report

Current Term Enrollment Estimates Report Series is published every December and

May by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. It provides national

enrollment estimates by institutional sector, enrollment intensity, age group, gender,

major field as well as state-level enrollment estimates. In this edition, the average age

for different student groups is newly added. 

Enrollment estimates are adjusted for Clearinghouse data coverage rates by

institutional sector, state, and year. As of fall 2018, postsecondary institutions actively

submitting enrollment data to the Clearinghouse account for 97 percent of the total

enrollments at Title IV, degree-granting institutions in the U.S. Most institutions submit

enrollment data several times per term, resulting in highly current data. Moreover,

since the Clearinghouse collects data at the student level, it is possible to report an

unduplicated student headcount, which avoids double-counting students who are

simultaneously enrolled at multiple institutions.

Overview : Fall 2019 Enrollment Estimates

In fall 2019, overall postsecondary enrollments decreased 1.3 percent from the

previous fall. All institutions experienced enrollment declines, with the largest drop

in the private for-profit four-year sector (-2.1%), followed by the public two-year and

four-year sectors (-1.4% and -1.2%, respectively) and the private nonprofit four-year

sector (-0.6%). Public sector enrollment (two-year and four-year combined) declined

by 1.3 percent (174,518 students) this fall.