New national enrollment data show community colleges saw a bigger bump in fall 2024 enrollments than initially estimated.
Overall undergraduate enrollments this fall increased by 4.7%, while enrollments at public two-year colleges grew 5.8% and by 6.3% at primarily associate-degree-granting baccalaureate institutions (PABs), according to a new final report on fall enrollments released today by the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) Research Center. That’s about 325,000 additional students at both types of institutions compared to fall 2023.
The NSC Research Center initially reported in preliminary findings in October that it estimated the increases at community colleges and PABs to be 4.7% and 5.2%, respectively. The center announced last week that much of its data, especially figures on freshmen and dual enrollment, were incorrect due to a methodological error. The mistake affected all the center’s preliminary reports dating back to 2020, when it started releasing the early data during the Covid pandemic to help track its effects on postsecondary enrollments.
Brighter outlook on freshmen
Two-year colleges also fared better in the revamped analysis among freshmen. While overall freshman enrollment grew 5.5% (130,000 students), public two-year colleges and PABs together showed the strongest growth at 7.1% (63,000 students), according to the final report.
That’s a far different picture than the one painted in the preliminary report, which predicted a -0.4% drop among freshmen at community colleges and PABs together.
The report also shows a higher uptick in dual enrollment than initially estimated. Two-year college fall enrollments for students 17 or younger–a widely accepted proxy in the field for dual enrollments–rose 8.7% (76,851 students). Traditional college-age students at two-year colleges (18 to 20 years old) comprised the bulk of fall enrollments at nearly 1.6 million students. The group saw a fall increase of 3.3% (50,985 students). Older student enrollments at two-year colleges also saw healthy gains this fall–6.2% for students ages 21 to 24; 7.6% for those 25 to 29; and 6% for those 30 and older.
However, except for dual-enrollment students, enrollments overall and for each age group were still below pre-Covid figures, the report shows. Enrollments at PABs showed similar trends.
Freshman enrollment at community colleges serving the highest shares of Pell Grant recipients saw the largest rate of growth this fall (8.6%, or 18,000 students). That’s a rate two times higher than community colleges serving the lowest share of Pell recipients (3.5%), the report says. In contrast, among all public four-year institutions, those serving the lowest share of Pell recipients had the highest rate of growth this fall (3.5%).
Voc ed drivers
Public two-year institutions with a high focus on vocational programs saw enrollments increase 13.6% in fall 2024, for a total of 923,660 students. Vocational-focused institutions now comprise 19.5% of enrollment in the sector, up from 15.3% in 2019, according to the center.
Two-year colleges focused on transfer programs saw a 2.4% increase, for a total of 2.1 million students. College with mixed transfer programs saw a 6.6% bump, to about 1.7 million students.
Eye-catching in the new report was the continued strong increases in certificate program enrollments. Overall, enrollment in certificate programs jumped 9.9% (more than 101,000 students), marking a fourth consecutive year of growth, the center says. Public two-year institutions saw the largest gains at 9.2% (53,000).
Big declines in reporting race/ethnicity
The report also shows that for the first time since the pandemic started, enrollment among White students is slightly up — 1% overall and 1.6% at public two-year colleges (though it’s down -1.1% at PABs). Enrollment among other races/ethnicities continued to grow this fall at public two-year colleges — Hispanic students saw 7.3% increase, Black students 7.4%, Asian students 4.9% and multiracial students 7.8%.
However, Doug Shapiro, the center’s executive director, cautioned that the percentage of students not reporting their race/ethnicity continues to increase. For community college students, 31.7% didn’t indicate their race/ethnicity. Overall, 24% of undergrads’ race/ethnicity is unknown, and at public four-year colleges it is 36%.
The “unknown” rates were even higher among freshmen — 51.4% overall, 43.2% among public two-year colleges and 47.5% at PABs. At public four-years, it was a whopping 60.6%.
