Enrollment is down slightly at Mass. public universities
The number of students attending Massachusetts’ 28 public colleges and universities has dropped 1.8 percent—a slight decrease—since the fall of 2014, according to an enrollment report presented Tuesday to the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education.
But that number doesn’t tell the whole story. Undergraduate enrollment across the four University of Massachusetts undergraduate campuses rose by 1.7 percent—or 952 students. This was due largely in part to an increase in the number of international students attending the university, with a 46 percent increase in international enrollment at the Amherst campus alone.
So which schools are losing students? To start, all of the community colleges. There was a 4.3 percent decline in community-college enrollment, which translates to a loss of 4,181 students. The other nine public universities in the state had an average enrollment decline of 0.8 percent, which represents a loss of 320 students.
But officials said the loss was expected. Massachusetts is one of 15 states where the number of high school students is estimated to shrink by more than 5 percent in the next eight years. The state board said many of the community college enrollment declines directly correspond to population losses in certain regions of the state, such as Cape Cod and the Berkshires.
“These enrollment trends are part of a boom-to-bust cycle that is normal and reflective of both demographic changes and economic trends,’’ Carlos Santiago, commissioner of higher education for the Commonwealth, said in a statement. “Still, the overall enrollment dip does give us cause for concern because the Commonwealth is already experiencing significant shortages of college-educated residents needed to fill jobs in high-demand fields.’’
The community college enrollment outlook could change, however, if Massachusetts passes a bill that would make community college tuition-free. The Joint Committee of Higher Education held a hearing to debate the bill in September, but no further action has been taken since.
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