The number of undergraduate college students in Georgia declined slightly this spring, according to a new report.
There were nearly 467,000 students in the state’s public and private colleges and universities during the spring semester, a 1.4% decline from last year, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center said in a report released Thursday.
Enrollment declined nationwide by more than 662,000 students, or 4.7%, from spring 2021, according to the report.
“College enrollment declines appear to be worsening,” said Doug Shapiro, the center’s executive director. “Although there may be some signs of a nascent recovery, particularly in a slight increase of first-year students, the numbers are small, and it remains to be seen whether they will translate into a larger freshman recovery in the coming fall.”
In Georgia, the largest decrease was at two-year public colleges, where enrollment declined by more than 13% to about 103,000 students, the report found. Several University System of Georgia schools that focus on offering two-year associate degrees have seen enrollment drops in recent years. While enrollment dropped by less than 1% systemwide, the decline was more than 7% in its two-year state colleges, according to University System data.
Administrators at many of the schools say the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the problem by making it tougher to recruit prospective students. Undergraduate enrollment has dropped nationwide by nearly 1.4 million students, or 9.4%, during the pandemic, the report showed.
The report showed larger declines among women, Black first-year students and students who are 24 and older. There were enrollment increases among first-year Asian and Latino students.
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