The Maine Wire
  • News
  • Commentary
  • The Blog
  • About
    • Contact
  • Investigations
    • Data
  • Donate
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending News
  • “If You Don’t Want Us To End Up In Blofeld’s Piranha Pond, You Must Buy My $4.2 Million Maine Cottage” – 007
  • A New Barrier Fence Is Among Nearly $5 Million Worth of Upgrades Being Made to the Blaine House This Year
  • Supreme Court Lets Trump Admin Move Forward With Slashing Education Department Staff
  • Youth Injured in Shooting at the Same Lewiston Housing Complex Where Another Teen Was Fatally Shot Last Year
  • Connecticut Man Arrested For Allegedly Luring a Minor to Lewiston Park
  • Troopers Investigating Fatal Hit-and-Run in Albion That Left Child Dead, Two Injured
  • Portland Bomb Squad Deems ‘Suspicious Package’ at Busy Intersection Not Hazardous
  • Lawsuit Against Midcoast Maine Private School Alleges Student Abuse That Officials Strongly Deny
Facebook Twitter Instagram
The Maine Wire
Monday, July 14
  • News
  • Commentary
  • The Blog
  • About
    • Contact
  • Investigations
    • Data
  • Donate
The Maine Wire
Home » News » Education » College enrollment drops as students seek alternatives
Education

College enrollment drops as students seek alternatives

Kerry McDonaldBy Kerry McDonaldJune 20, 2022Updated:June 20, 2022No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Reddit
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

The past two years have been marked by major education disruption at the K-12 level, as more families questioned the schooling status quo during prolonged school closures and remote learning. They left district schools in droves, choosing instead to become independent homeschoolers, join learning pods and microschools, or find high-quality virtual learning platforms. 

Public school enrollment plummeted during the 2020/2021 academic year, and continued its decline this academic year in many areas, despite the fact that schools reopened for full-time, in-person learning. 

Higher education is seeing a similar trend. College enrollment dropped in the 2020/2021 school year as many colleges and universities turned to remote learning, and it has also not rebounded.

In fact, The New York Times recently reported that the college enrollment decline may indeed be worsening this year. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, undergraduate enrollment this spring is down 662,000 students compared to last year, or a drop of 4.7 percent. Graduate school enrollment also declined this year compared to last year.

“Prospective college students may be weighing the relative value of jobs that require or expect a college degree against equally attractive opportunities that do not,” wrote the Times.

These students are smart. They are recognizing that the conveyor belt to college, and the debt they assume along the way, may not be the best option. They are weighing the benefits of a college degree against the costs, both financial costs and opportunity costs, and determining that perhaps another pathway to adulthood might make more sense.

On this week’s episode of the LiberatED Podcast, I interviewed Cameron Sorsby, CEO of Praxis, about alternatives to college. Praxis is an apprenticeship boot camp program that helps young people to develop skills and experience that make them valuable to prospective employers. 

Over the past couple of years, Sorsby has been seeing increased interest in Praxis, along with a growing cultural acceptance of alternatives to college. “As soon as it became more socially acceptable to pursue other options outside of the typical higher ed track, you see more people flocking to it,” said Sorsby.

More individuals and families are questioning the conventional K-12 and college pathway, and are exploring other options. Their demand for both schooling and college alternatives will continue to dramatically reshape education for years to come.

Listen to the weekly LiberatED Podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, and Stitcher, and sign up for Kerry’s weekly LiberatED email newsletter to stay up-to-date on educational news and trends from a free-market perspective.

This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.

Previous ArticleRecent court filings renew debate on Sunday hunting in Maine
Next Article Protecting our children, both in body and in mind
Kerry McDonald

Kerry McDonald is a Senior Education Fellow at FEE and author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom (Chicago Review Press, 2019). She is also an adjunct scholar at The Cato Institute and a regular Forbes contributor. Kerry has a B.A. in economics from Bowdoin College and an M.Ed. in education policy from Harvard University. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and four children.

Subscribe to Substack

Related Posts

Supreme Court Lets Trump Admin Move Forward With Slashing Education Department Staff

July 14, 2025

Lawsuit Against Midcoast Maine Private School Alleges Student Abuse That Officials Strongly Deny

July 14, 2025

Church Appeals Ruling in Religious Discrimination Case Against UMS Over Sale of Former Hutchinson Center

July 14, 2025

Leave A Reply

Subscribe to Substack
Recent News

“If You Don’t Want Us To End Up In Blofeld’s Piranha Pond, You Must Buy My $4.2 Million Maine Cottage” – 007

July 14, 2025

A New Barrier Fence Is Among Nearly $5 Million Worth of Upgrades Being Made to the Blaine House This Year

July 14, 2025

Youth Injured in Shooting at the Same Lewiston Housing Complex Where Another Teen Was Fatally Shot Last Year

July 14, 2025

Connecticut Man Arrested For Allegedly Luring a Minor to Lewiston Park

July 14, 2025

Troopers Investigating Fatal Hit-and-Run in Albion That Left Child Dead, Two Injured

July 14, 2025
Newsletter

News

  • News
  • Campaigns & Elections
  • Opinion & Commentary
  • Media Watch
  • Education
  • Media

Maine Wire

  • About the Maine Wire
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Commentary
  • Complaints
  • Maine Policy Institute

Resources

  • Maine Legislature
  • Legislation Finder
  • Get the Newsletter
  • Maine Wire TV

Facebook Twitter Instagram Steam RSS
  • Post Office Box 7829, Portland, Maine 04112

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.