A growing share of high-school students say they feel unprepared for college, academically and emotionally, and are choosing not to enroll right away — suggesting that long-term effects of the pandemic are stunting college enrollment.
What’s more, some students increasingly doubt that college is worth the cost.
The findings come from a report released on Monday by EAB, a consulting firm focused on higher education. EAB surveys more than 20,000 high-school students each year on their college-going plans, whether or not they decide to pursue a higher education. This year, the survey results tracked a significant shift.
Twenty-two percent of respondents said they weren’t ready for college due to a lack of emotional and academic preparedness, compared with 14 percent who said so in EAB’s 2019 survey. An even larger share of first-generation and low-income students said they felt unprepared.
The pandemic disrupted students’ social and academic development, the EAB report said. That may have taken a toll on a student’s confidence in finding success or a sense of belonging at college.
“I believe there’s a pretty long hangover from Covid,” Hope Krutz, president of EAB’s enrollment division, said. “Students that are coming to us are less prepared, but it’s not their fault. This is a systemic issue, not a personal one.”
Total undergraduate enrollment has dropped by more than a million students since the pandemic began, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
Not Ready
First-generation students, in particular, said they felt not mentally ready for college: 28 percent shared that sentiment. The comparable figure for their non-first-generation peers was only 20 percent.
First-generation and low-income students typically lack their peers’ access to college preparation, can’t visit campuses to inform their college choice, and can’t afford such essential resources as transportation, a computer, or at-home Wi-Fi, Krutz said.
However, the study found the highest rates of indifference to college among middle- and high-income students.
I believe there’s a pretty long hangover from Covid. Students that are coming to us are less prepared.
“Affordability takes a lot of shapes and forms,” Krutz said. “The ultimate bigger question is one of value. Especially when this expands out, you’re seeing a higher rate of middle- and higher-income prospective students making the same choices.”
Alongside a lack of preparedness, students cited not feeling that college was worthwhile — a jump to 20 percent of respondents from only 8 percent in 2019.
To mitigate those problems, Krutz said, colleges should offer boot camps and bolster orientation and first-year-student programs to help students catch up academically and socially.
Regarding mental-health concerns, the EAB report suggests that colleges talk to families about their concerns, as well as available resources for academic and mental-health support, when their students arrive on campus.
Colleges should send the message that students aren’t alone in feeling unprepared, Krutz said.
“The more colleges embrace what are the stories of the typical students on their campus, they are meeting this population,” Krutz said. “Versus putting the two or three best-in-class students on a pedestal and saying everyone should be like them.”
