New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center show that first-year enrollment of undergraduate students at the nation’s universities went up 5.5% in fall 2024 compared to the previous year. With this new release, the research center corrected its previous estimates that had showed a decline in freshman enrollment. The center noted that a methodological error caused it to undercount the number of freshmen and affected its preliminary fall 2024 enrollment report.
The corrected data also show that overall postsecondary enrollment has rebounded from the steep declines it experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Total postsecondary enrollment increased 4.5% from fall 2023, with total undergraduate enrollment increasing by 4.7% and total graduate enrollment increasing by 3.3%. Nearly 16 million students were enrolled at the undergraduate level and 3.2 million students were enrolled at the graduate level in fall 2024.
Additional highlights from the NSCRC data include:
- Total undergraduate enrollment at four-year public nonprofit institutions increased by 3.2% and by 7.5% at four-year private nonprofit institutions.
- Undergraduate enrollment increased for all racial and ethnic groups. White student enrollment increased by 1%, both Black and Hispanic student enrollment increased by 6.8%, and Asian student enrollment went up by 4.2%. International undergraduate student enrollment increased by 9.3%.
- Overall enrollment in bachelor’s degree programs went up 2.9%, while enrollment in associate degree programs went up 6.3%.
- Undergraduate certificate programs continue to attract students; in the fall of 2024, they saw a 9.9% increase in enrollment compared to the previous year.
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center releases enrollment estimates every year and, according to The Washington Post, is a “trusted source for enrollment trends in higher education because it collects information from 97 percent of the 3,600 degree-granting institutions in the country.”
Kritika Agarwal is senior editorial officer at AAU.