Undergraduate enrollment on track to increase for third straight year

Undergraduate enrollment is on track to grow 2.4% year over year this fall, driving a 2% overall rise in higher education enrollment, according to preliminary data released Tuesday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. This marks the third year in a row of undergraduate enrollment growth.
Graduate enrollment stayed largely level — up 0.1% compared to the year prior. Enrollment in master’s programs, which host almost two-thirds of this fall’s graduate students, declined by 0.6%. Conversely, doctoral-level programs saw a 1.1% increase in students.
The clearinghouse also found that students’ choice of studies is shifting. Enrollment in computer and information sciences dropped this fall — ranging from a 5.8% decline at two-year institutions to a 15% nosedive in graduate programs — while numbers of health and trade majors rose.