Summer Enrollment Numbers Are In, and the Patterns Are Confounding

Enrollments among Black students and male students saw the sharpest declines.

Many close observers of the fiscal health of higher education in the Covid-19 era have been focused on colleges’ fall enrollments. And while initial signals about the fall have been emerging, newly released figures on summer enrollments offer insights on changes that are already happening. Some of what the numbers say is surprising.

A new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center on enrollment in the summer of 2020 reveals that attendance by students in certain demographic groups and at certain types of institutions was down from the previous summer.

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The organization’s data counts 7 million students enrolled in summer sessions at 2,300 colleges. Enrollments among Black students and male students saw the largest declines. And of the four institution types highlighted in the report — community colleges, and four-year public, private, and for-profit institutions — community colleges and for-profit colleges suffered the most.

As a tattered economy and a pandemic play out simultaneously, some of the enrollment patterns were unexpected, said Doug Shapiro, the center’s executive director. For instance, community-college enrollment, according to the data, fell nearly 6 percent from the summer of 2019.

Community colleges typically see enrollments increase several months to a year into a recession, as people return to pick up new skills. And although it’s too soon for that to be happening, Shapiro said, “I certainly didn’t think it would go down by this much.”

Also of note, Shapiro said, was the difference in enrollment patterns for Hispanic and Black students — groups among whom he expected to see more alignment. The percent change in enrollment for Hispanic students was up at every type of institution except for community colleges and up 3.3 percent over all. But Black student enrollment fell 6.1 percent over all, and their enrollment was down at every type of institution.

Here’s a closer look at some of the report’s key takeaways: