Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
The percentage of 2020 high school graduates enrolling immediately in college declined nationally by 6.8 percent this school year — an unprecedented drop, according to the National Student Clearinghouse — but local data was more mixed.
Some of the drop was due to COVID-19 issues — safety concerns for in-person students, ability-to-pay problems because of lost family income, and some choosing not to pay full tuition for online courses. But a continuing decline in college graduates could hurt local and national economies.
Local and state universities varied widely in new freshman enrollment for 2020-21.
- University of Dayton officials said their first-year enrollment last fall of about 2,150 students was up 9% from 2019 (which was a slight aberration year) and was consistent with the 2018 and 2017 numbers.
- Wright State’s “direct from high school enrollment” fell from 1,603 in fall 2019 to 1,352 in fall 2020, according to director of communications Seth Bauguess, marking a 15.7% drop. That continues a multi-year negative trend.
- At Ohio State University, the number of “new first-year students” on the Columbus campus increased 12.7% from 7,630 to 8,602 for fall 2020, offsetting declines in transfer and returning students, as the university’s overall enrollment stayed roughly flat. OSU director of media relations Ben Johnson said student applications, which were at 52,015 and 53,313 the past two years, rocketed to 63,121 this year.
- Wilmington College had an 8.4% drop in new high school graduates enrolling last fall, from 345 down to 316. But senior director of public relations Randy Sarvis said 14 students who took a “wait-and-see” approach ended up enrolling in January, cutting that drop in half.
