7.6 percent decline puts University of Montana enrollment at lowest in 25 years

[TexasTowelie]

The University of Montana saw a 7.6 percent drop in enrollment from last fall to this fall, according to its latest census enrollment report.

It marks the eighth consecutive year of decline for the university, and the first time enrollment has dropped below 11,000 since 1993 — even as enrollment at the system's other flagship, Montana State University, is projected to increase beyond its enrollment of 16,703 last fall.

UM has seen a 28.5 percent drop in enrollment over the past seven years, and had anticipated a 5 percent drop in enrollment this fall. But the university’s latest census shows a steeper decline, from 11,865 students in Fall 2017 to 10,962 this fall.

That count includes the University’s Missoula and Bitterroot Colleges and its central Mountain Campus.

Read more: https://missoulian.com/news/local/percent-decline-puts-university-of-montana-enrollment-at-lowest-in/article_93a1bd25-cca0-5906-b18f-aae294fbfe51.html

[exboyfil]

1. Why fewer high school students?

Taking college classes is what allowed my daughters to finish in under two years in engineering and nursing. Saved lots of money, and they started earning professional salary at 20.

[Farmer-Rick]

2. College enrollment is down through out the US

The is the 8th year, I think, it's down.

Fewer and fewer people can afford the loans.

[kurtcagle]

3. It will get worse

Universities are subsidized businesses. Loans are getting harder to get, those loans do not go as far, and at some point, there is a break-even point where the cost of a university education is more than the lifetime earning boost that it brings. Factor into this the increasing perils of immigration in Trump's America and the increasing quality of universities in China, India, Africa and the Middle East, and many foreign students may likely decide that it is no longer worth paying the international student premium + ridiculously high tuition rates for an American education

Additionally, the previous cohort (what constitutes the latter half of the Millennials and the first half of GenZ in popular parlance, though I actually believe this should be treated as a separate generation) has also mostly moved OUT of university at this point, save for those in grad school. On top of that, in about seven years time (2025) there is a steep drop-off of incoming college students due to the birth rate decline in 2008 that kicked off the Great Recession (and that is still falling). My expectation is that between 2025 and 2040, 25% of all four-year universities will close due to lack of students and the inability to lower tuition rates. It will likely spell the end of a majority of for-profit universities.