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Census milestone: College enrollment has reached a new all-time high
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Believe it or not, there's good news about education in America.
The share of 18- to 24-year-olds attending college in the United States rose to its highest level ever in October 2008, fueled by a surge in enrollments at community colleges, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Nearly 4 in 10 (39.6%) of all young adults ages 18 to 24 were enrolled in either a two- or four-year college in Oct. 2008, based on the most recent national data available. That's nearly 11.5 million students. Both the number and percentage are at the highest levels ever.
While enrollment has been rising at both two- and four-year colleges, the most recent spike occurred at two-year colleges. Between Oct. 2007 and Oct. 2008, the share of young adults taking classes at a community college rose from 10.9% to 11.8%, while enrollments at four-year colleges remained flat.
Of course, this good news is fueled in part by bad news, including our atrophied job market.
Factors that contribute to this new peak in college enrollment include:
- Our feeble economy. The recession has shrunk the ranks of employed 16- to 24-year-olds. In Sept. 2009, the share who were employed sank to 46.1%, the lowest level since the government began collecting such data. At least some of those students are going to college as a way to take refuge from a tight job market, as well as to beef up their skills and by extension, their attractiveness to potential employers.
- The tendency of community college enrollments to rise as the economy worsens, because they are less expensive than four-year schools.
On the bright side, we're seeing higher graduation rates from high school. According to the Pew analysis of census figures, a record 84.9% of 18- to 24-year-olds had completed high school as of October 2008, up from 75.5% in 1967 and 83.9% in 2007.
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Photo: AP/Eric Risberg
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