(The Hill) - College enrollment numbers are higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic for the first time in five years.
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released a report Thursday showing total enrollment was up 4.5 percent last fall with around 18.2 million students, 0.4 percent higher than in 2019.
Some of the biggest increases were in undergraduate certificate programs, with enrollments 28.5 percent above 2019 levels.
Freshman enrollment went up 5.5 percent this fall, with community colleges getting the most growth at 7.1 percent. The spike in freshman enrollment was mostly from students above 21 years of age, while enrollment at 18 is still below 2019 numbers.
Clearinghouse had to retract its preliminary report in October that said enrollment went down last fall. The organization had an error in its math as some college freshmen were counted as dual-enrolled high school students.
“Our sensitivity to abnormally large changes was somewhat reduced because we had a host of ready explanations for why we might be seeing these declines,” Doug Shapiro, the group’s executive director, said on a call with reporters, the Washington Post reported.
“It would have surprised us in a normal year, but in the year in which we had issues with the FAFSA, changes in the economy … and all other kinds of things that could be driving a change like that, kind of dulled our sensors,” he added.
Clearinghouse collects information from 97 percent of Title IV degree granting institutions.