College Enrollments Dropped Nearly Half a Million Last Fall - US Census Bureau

According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released Tuesday, college enrollment in fall 2012 plunged by half a million (467,000) from one year earlier. This decline, which includes both graduate and undergraduate enrollment, follows a period of substantial growth — 3.2 million — between 2006 and 2011. These statistics come from School Enrollment: 2012. As the nation's students begin a new school year, the Census Bureau releases its annual set of tables on the characteristics of children and adults enrolled in school at all levels — from nursery to graduate school. Among the characteristics examined are age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, nativity and foreign-born parentage. This decline in college enrollment was driven by older students — that is, those 25 and older. Their enrollment fell by 419,000, while the enrollment of younger students declined by 48,000. http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/education/cb13-153.html