Overall spring enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities was down 3.5 percent compared with the year prior, marking the largest year-over-year drop in at least a decade.
Topics: COVID-19
Visa, vaccine complexities await international students headed to U.S. campuses
International students preparing to attend U.S. colleges this fall are navigating a complicated web of travel guidelines, embassy closures, visa processing delays, and vaccination requirements.
What’s ahead for internship programs after a year of disruption?
As employers solidify internship plans for the coming summer, advocates are urging them to create programs that offer equitable access to earning, learning, and networking opportunities.
Elite colleges admitted more underrepresented students this year, early reports suggest
As students weigh college admissions offers ahead of the May 1 decision deadline, early data indicate that the nation’s top schools could welcome an especially diverse class this year.
Survey finds 3 in 5 college students report basic needs insecurity
A new report shows the pandemic’s impact on college students’ food and housing struggles, finding that 58 percent of students experienced basic needs insecurity in fall 2020.
Community colleges get creative to attract students, address enrollment hurdles
Seeking to stem enrollment declines and remove access barriers for students, community colleges are intensifying their outreach and offering targeted incentives.
Could this unprecedented admissions cycle bring lasting change?
Admissions teams at the nation’s most selective institutions are facing uncharted territory this year as they attempt to review a record number of applications—many without test scores—to shape the Class of 2025.
International students face ongoing uncertainty, travel restrictions
A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, students around the world still face travel barriers, leaving U.S. colleges and universities wondering whether international enrollment will rebound in the fall.
Latest relief bill includes $40B for higher ed, sets stage for debt forgiveness
The $1.9 trillion stimulus package President Joe Biden signed into law this week provides $40 billion for higher education, eliminates taxes on student debt forgiveness, and closes a regulatory loophole that may encourage for-profit schools to target student-veterans.
Advocates ask: How will students with disabilities be supported once campuses reopen?
Some students with disabilities have found the transition to virtual learning environments during COVID-19 to be freeing and flexible, leading advocates to wonder which accommodations might endure well beyond the pandemic.
Test-optional policies here to stay, ACT report suggests
Enrollment officials responding to an ACT survey indicated that they’re unlikely to return to test-required policies in the near term, although institutions whose test-optional policies were COVID-driven said the next few application cycles will be telling.
Digital recruitment, test-optional policies: Stopgaps for COVID-19 or lasting change?
Many colleges and universities pivoted to digital recruitment tactics and test-optional admissions policies out of necessity this past year. But some admissions experts expect the changes to persist well beyond the pandemic.