Hello College Access Champions,
The impact of this pandemic continues to be significant, and possibly challenging for many of you, as well as for the students and the families you serve from a social, financial, and mental health perspective.
Presumably, it's no surprise to you that the pandemic has further exacerbated the equity gaps in college enrollment and to students' progress toward financial and economic mobility. In fact, the Class of 2020 saw record-breaking college enrollment declines. As of December 17, the National Student Clearinghouse reports that undergraduate enrollment, in Michigan, for Class 2020 was down 9.2% compared to Class 2019. This is the second-largest percentage drop for total enrollment for 2019-2020 of all states across the country.
Nationwide, immediate college enrollment for Class 2020 fell 21.7% that is 8 times the drop for Class 2019 (2.8%).
- For students from low-income schools, this number is much worse with immediate college enrollment down 29.2%.
- That number is 26.4% for students from high-minority schools.
- Based on those percentages, an estimated 1 out of 5 Class 2020 high school graduates who would have gone to college did not, and that number is almost 1 out of 3 for graduates from a high poverty school.