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Enrollments at colleges and universities dropped for the 8th semester in a row this autumn, down nearly two percent beneath what they were final fall, new figures show.

The Topic: College enrollment is downwardly half dozen per centum in the last 4 years.Why It Matters: The trend threatens caste-completion goals.

The number of students over 24 continued to decline sharply—more than iv pct—co-ordinate to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, which tracks this. Enrollment at iv-yr for-profit institutions plunged by nearly xiv per centum.

Four-twelvemonth public universities and colleges saw an incremental increase in their number of students, up by less than half of 1 percent. Enrollments at private nonprofit institutions barbarous by more than 3 pct among part-time students, and past a full of iii-tenths of i percent.*

"This fall'southward numbers show ongoing challenges for colleges and universities," said Doug Shapiro, the research center's executive director. "Developed students are still leaving higher education in large numbers, particularly for-profit institutions and community colleges."

In all, U.Due south. university and college enrollment has fallen half-dozen percent in the last four years, even every bit policymakers push to increment the proportion of the population with degrees.

*Clarification: An before version of this story noted that enrollments at private, nonprofit institutions fell by more than 3 percent. That figure reflected a drop in function-time enrollment. Total enrollment fell by three-tenths of one percent.

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Jon Marcus writes and edits stories well-nigh, and helps program coverage of, higher teaching. A former magazine editor, he has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Wired, Medium.com...