2024: 5 times Americans ditched 4-year colleges

Young Americans, particularly men, increasingly questioned the value of higher education in 2024. Here are five examples. 

1. Colleges experience sharpest freshmen enrollment decline since start of pandemic, new data shows

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) has released new data that shows this year’s college freshman figures represent the sharpest fall for first-year enrollment since the COVID-19 pandemic.

While overall undergraduate enrollment rose for the second year in a row, freshmen enrollment has dropped by 5 percent from last year.

2. Poll reveals growing skepticism toward higher ed as college enrollment declines

Confidence in higher education is decreasing, with a new poll from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation finding that only 36% of adults have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in American universities.

Campus Reform has previously reported that confidence in higher education has been steadily decreasing for almost a decade, with 57% of Americans expressing confidence in universities in 2015 and 48% in 2018.

3. College enrollment drops as men stop viewing higher ed as helpful for employment

College enrollment among men had steadily fallen for years, according to a December report from the Pew Research Center. The report came out months before the recent wave of anti-Israel campus protests, which have drawn widespread condemnation for their anti-Semitic incidents, disruptiveness, and attacks on law enforcement.

“This shift is driven entirely by the falling share of men who are students at four-year colleges,” the report explains. “Today, men represent only 42% of students ages 18 to 24 at four-year schools, down from 47% in 2011.”

4. Number of higher ed institutions dropped 1.7 percent in the 2023-2024 school year as the cost of college continues to soar

The number of higher education institutions dropped 1.7 percent during the 2023-24 academic school year as economic constraints made it harder for higher ed to operate. 

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics displays that a decline in eligible institutions that receive Title IV federal student aid has significantly contributed to the number of universities that are up-and-running, offering education to students. 

5. Emerson College fires 10 employees, sees enrollment drop following anti-Israel demonstrations

Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts has fired 10 employees following anti-Israel protests at the school earlier this spring. 

School President Jay M. Bernhardt initially announced the plans for the staff reduction on June 18, citing dropping enrollment in the college. Bernhardt attributed the falling enrollment in part to the negative attention that Emerson has gotten due to disruptive anti-Israel protests at the college.