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The 2025 enrollment cliff is more than a demographic blip; it’s a signal of profound changes in the higher education landscape. As the traditional college-going population declines, the industry must look beyond the numbers to understand the shifting attitudes and expectations of potential students. By focusing on flexibility, career ...

Colleges and universities collectively experienced a 15% decline in enrollment between 2010 and 2021, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Some are lowering tuition to attract more applicants. In 2025, ... The so-called "enrollment cliff" — a sharp decline in the number of traditional college-aged students — is no longer a ...

College enrollment numbers, long in decline, may be hitting a cliff next year. After peaking in 2010, undergraduate enrollment dropped from roughly 18.1 million students that year to about 15.4 ...

Colleges Were Already Bracing for an ‘Enrollment Cliff.’ Now There Might Be a Second One. ... Well, back in 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau figured that, after cresting at 4.3 million in 2025 ...

A new report predicts the number of high school graduates will peak at about 3.8 million in 2025 and then slowly decline, resulting in about 13% fewer graduates by 2041.

increased, preventing an enrollment cliff. In 2025, there is unlikely to be such an increase in demand for college. While throughout history birth rate decreases are usually temporarily tied to poor economies, modern U.S. birth rates have continued to decline, even as the economy rebounded in the 2010s (Figure 1).

At the annual 2025 Niche Higher Ed Insights Summit, Ryan Bell, ... The enrollment cliff isn’t just a numbers problem—it’s a shift in mindset for many. Institutions willing to listen smarter, act faster, and personalize deeper will survive and thrive. It starts with being able to identify and respond, and having the right tools to move ...

The enrollment cliff refers to significant predicted (and in some cases precipitous) declines in the number of college-going students in a state or region of the country. These drops may be ...

The number of U.S. high school graduates is expected to peak in 2025 or 2026 and then decline for years to come — posing severe challenges to schools at all levels. Why it matters: Schools and colleges are closing, faculty members are being laid off, and districts are facing financial dilemmas — all as education is under political fire from every side.

Academic leaders are preparing to encounter what has become known as a cliff in traditional student enrollment. College enrollment projections anticipate numbers to plummet by more than 15% after 2025—just three short years away. The impending cliff was initially predicted due to steadily declining birth rates since the 2008 recession.

Within this time period, public 4-year colleges maintained the most enrollment, totaling 7.8 million students in 2020. Demonstrating the tip of the enrollment cliff, this number dropped to 7.6 ...

As we discussed in our previous blog article, Seeing Past the Enrollment Cliff of 2025, this shift is compounded by the growing demand for more flexible, career-oriented education options, alongside the growing belief among students that the cost of a traditional college education is increasingly unjustifiable.

Predictions of the 2025 enrollment cliff date back to 2011. Recent projections anticipate the share of 18-year-olds in the U.S. will drop to 4.2 million from 4.3 million between 2025 and 2033, and will continue to shrink to 3.8 million by 2039. Despite that, many schools spent the early and mid-2010s building dorms and adding superfluous ...

By Blake Decker February 1, 2025 February 10, 2025. For a number of years, much of the talk in higher education circles has been about the pending ‘enrollment cliff’ that is projected to have widespread effect over the course of the next 10-15 years. The publication of Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education ...

You may have seen the term “enrollment cliff” mentioned by Higher Education professionals with the year 2025 attached to this projection. This expected decline in student enrollment to Higher Education institutions has been projected to occur due to multiple factors. These factors include a decline in birthrate after the 2008 recession, increasing costs of tuition,…

The Demographic Cliff Is Here: How Some Schools Are Beating the Odds ... 2025. The market for traditional-aged undergraduate enrollment is rough and about to get rougher as we go over the demographic cliff. The National Clearinghouse reports a 4.7% increase in undergraduate enrollment this year, but 18-year-old freshman enrollment lags at 3.4%. ...

A new data dashboard is helping college leaders prepare for expected enrollment declines and demographic shifts. A new digital tool aims to help campus leaders prepare for an impending demographic cliff, a steep drop in the traditional college-age population in certain parts of the country starting in 2025. The interactive data visualization tool shows enrollment and population trends by state ...

The enrollment cliff of 2025 is a culmination of different factors, including but not limited to: Demographic shifts; Changes in higher education sentiment among students and parents/guardians; The FAFSA delay and the search cliff; Let’s explore what led to today’s college admissions landscape.