By Zaidee Stavely – EdSource
The number of undergraduates in California colleges dropped by about 250,000 between fall 2019 and fall 2021, according to a new survey from the National Student Clearinghouse.
The biggest drop came in fall 2020, when colleges went online. There were 148,113 fewer students enrolled in fall 2020 than in fall 2019. The following year, in fall 2021, there were 99,000 fewer students than in 2020. The biggest drop is among community college students.
“Our final look at fall 2021 enrollment shows undergraduates continuing to sit out in droves as colleges navigate yet another year of Covid-19,” said Doug Shapiro, executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Without a dramatic reengagement in their education, the potential loss to these students’ earnings and futures is significant, which will greatly impact the nation as a whole in years to come.”
13 comments
The drop in undergraduate enrollment when colleges went to online courses does not surprise me–you are still paying the campus mandatory fees even though you are not physically there. The ‘learn by doing’ at CalPoly SLO was not what happened this past year. Hopefully, students return next year when it makes sense financially about paying for housing/food/tuition without the uncertainty…
https://www.calstate.edu/attend/paying-for-college/csu-costs/tuition-and-fees/campus-mandatory-fees
he’s not worried for one second for the “potential loss to these students, he knows his livelihood is over if they don’t come back.
Weak attempt to make it about the “children” again, all people in the education industry only care about themselves. I hope many of the students realized they didn’t need a community college education to be successful in life, that’s a bill of good sold to our youth by education.inc.
Spot on!
I remember hearing, several years ago, that community colleges were going to start offering 4-year degrees, what happened to that?
When students were required to leave campus due to the shelter-in-place order and start distance learning, universities or at least the CSUs, didn’t refund students their money for services they were no longer receiving. Perhaps students are deciding that getting into thousands of dollars in student debt is not worth it since they can easily learn anything online and at their own pace. They also don’t have to listen to political agenda and be graded based on how much they agree with it.
I wouldn’t send my kids to college in California.
Agreed, never, ranked at the bottom , the whole state sucks, and it’s education is the worst
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I’d sit out too. College life is an experience. It’s where lifelong bonds are formed and networking with working professionals is an immeasurable value.
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Sitting at home in front of a monitor at home for online courses at $20K+ per year isn’t much of an educational college experience.
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Thanks for nothing Gavin… and Let’s Go Brandon!
All the more reason why student loans should be fully dischargeable through bankruptcy.
Serves the CSU and UC systems right… Their crazy stances have consequences.
Son went to UC Davis, campus was closed numerous times due to smoke from the never ending fires then COVID hit. Kinda hard to be a science major and not be able to use any of the campus facilities. He spent his last 2 yrs in his apartment off campus with his 2 roommates eating take out, some college experience. He lost all his on campus internships in labs and because they kept him and others hanging thinking they may get to go back, but then they were too late hitting the remote internships opportunities.
No job fairs, no campus events, no recreational or social opportunities and still was charged for all the extras your tuition covers beyond just classes. We are very proud of him for making it through with a 3.5 gpa, a degree and his sanity, but he and most of his friends are lost. I fear that a whole generation of young people may not be able to catch up socialization wise and education wise or career wise.
Millions around the world are suffering much worse from loss of life, to loss of jobs and livelihood so this pales by comparison but still breaks a parents heart and continues to hurt with every payment I’m still making to try and lower his debt.
My undergraduate experience was all in person as the Internet did not exist as we know it. I didn’t take an online class years later when I went to grad school, although there were some things that we had to do online. Later on I took some online classes. Having experienced both options I would never pay good money for an online class, much less for a majority of a degree program. The interaction between professors and other students is too valuable to lose out on. And I see no way to do the lab work necessary for science majors.
The education industry is just that, an industry where the workers are more interested in their paycheck than actually preparing students for a successful career. Sorry to sound harsh, but there it is.
Less kids entering adulthood with tons of student loan debt is a good thing. Thanks Scamdemic!
This could be a good source for a few Water Cooler themes-
1) Do you feel a college education (4 year degree) is necessary in order to have a good earning career?
2) Do you encourage your children to pursue a 4 year college degree? Why/why not?
3) If you’re not going to pursue a 4 year college degree, what would you direct someone to pursue to make a good living in their career?
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