A new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center says that post-secondary enrollment for high school students in 2020 has declined by 21.7% compared to 2019.
The report says that COVID-19 is the reason for the decline in enrollment rates.
Some Jacksonville colleges are feeling the impact on their campus.
Action News Jax spoke with Dr. William Miller, Jacksonville University’s leader of the analytic office about the new report. You can watch that interview above.
Other schools in Northeast Florida told Action News Jax that they are feeling some of these impacts at their schools.
Edward Water College said that they have seen an increase in application and enrollment for 2020 and 2021. They said that enrollment has increased by 4% in 2020, new student enrollment increased by 22.6% over last year. They gave Action News Jax this statement,
“We were excited to see our enrollment growth during the global pandemic, but it was due to pragmatic changes made to the recruitment and enrollment process that we were able to experience this growth. We will continue to adapt to a virtual atmosphere in order to grow our enrollment and serve the needs of our students,” said Dr. Jennifer Price, vice president of enrollment management and strategic matriculant services.”
The University of North Florida says their enrollment in 2020 was steady and there was a small increase in enrollment for first-time-in-college students. They told us,
“When compared to past years, overall UNF enrollment in 2020 remained steady. We saw a slight increase in the number of incoming first-time-in-college students and a slight, negligible decrease in our total enrollment headcount for fall 2020. As for 2021 applications, we are seeing small dips in enrollment similar to what other universities around the state and nation are experiencing.”
Florida State College at Jacksonville said that they have seen a decrease in applications in 2020. They told Action News Jax the following,
“Our Fall enrollment (2020) was down around 7.5% and new applications at FSCJ are currently down some, which reflects national trends in higher education. With that, we are seeing a similar amount of students applying for Financial Aid this year as we saw in years past.”