As much as we’d like to attribute the total decline in enrollments to the pandemic, it’s clear that COVID-19 is not the only factor. For instance, birth rates have been falling continuously for more than a decade (dropping 4 percent in 2020 alone) and as mentioned, college enrollments were trending down prior to the pandemic. However, COVID-19 has had a substantial and wide-reaching impact on the financial ability of families and individuals to pay for higher education of any form. Students have seen parents lose their jobs or may have lost their own jobs, and their educational plans may have been disrupted by deaths due to COVID or the need to help support their families by working or caring for children.
