Bringing Back the Middle-Class: College Enrollment Trends. By Riccardo Purita

 Riccardo Purita

With the increased tuition rates as well as student debt doubling over the last decade (Hess, 2019), college enrollment has continued to decrease over the years (Fain, 2019). The effect of lower enrollment has varied in severity depending on the institution, but it means less revenue. This decline has largely been caused by fewer undergraduate middle-class students enrolling in higher education (U.S. Department of Education, 2019).

            The most frequent answer that middle-class students give for not attending college is the cost of attendance (Marcus, 2019). Many students and their families are unable to look past the potential expense for higher education and the likelihood of debt. If a student gets past a college’s sticker price, applies, and is accepted, their enrollment will be dependent on how much the institution costs. Net prices (tuition minus financial aid awarded) for both public and private institutions have generally increased over the years (U.S. Department of Education, 2017). Furthermore, middle-income undergraduate students are taking out loans for college at similar rates to students from lower-income backgrounds (Fry & Cilluffo, 2019). Some of these families are expected to pay 30 percent-45 percent of their household income for their students’ college attendance (Institute for Research on Higher Education, 2016). This analysis relied on data prior to the COVID-19 pandemic which has likely exasperated these issues further. Overall, many students from middle-class backgrounds have financial needs that are not being met by institutions and reducing college enrollment.

Many universities have taken steps to address middle-class financial needs. Over the last few years, scholarships specifically marketed for this group have been established at several schools. These universities hope that awards advertised and targeted to the middle-class will increase enrollment numbers. Below I offer a few other recommendations for universities to consider increasing enrollment of these students:

Recommendation #1: Advertise external scholarships and funding on college website. One of the common ways in which prospective students attempt to pay for college is by applying for external scholarships. If a student can secure funding from these awards, it will make it more likely for them to attend college. Therefore, universities benefit by helping prospective applicants with that process. Carnegie Mellon University has a page of outside scholarship databases on their college’s website (Fellowships and Scholarships Office, 2020). Other schools should consider this approach as well.

Recommendation #2: Rethink how to best advertise college cost. Several private colleges have used a tuition-reset strategy which involves reducing the cost of tuition by as much as 40-50 percent to attract more applications. This strategy tends to be deceptive as schools often need to reduce the financial aid offered to offset the revenue lost from tuition. This also may not affect the actual net price of college attendance (Seltzer, 2017). However, even if this approach does not change cost, it may be valuable if this increases the number of applications from middle-class students. It would be important to incorporate tuition-reset with other strategies like offering other financial awards to reduce college cost.

Institutions can also work to learn from their current students by sending a feedback survey about the financial aid experience. Some questions could ask students about financial information they did not know when enrolling, experiences with applying for scholarships and loans, and whether their financial costs match their expectations. Universities should then use this knowledge to inform their practices with marketing financial expenses.

Recommendation #3: Consider scholarships that focus on other basic needs like housing and food. While it is typical for universities to offer financial aid that focuses exclusively on tuition costs, there are many other expenses that a student needs to consider. Mandatory fees, housing, food, books, and transportation costs can all affect a student’s ability to attend college (Miller-Adams, 2015). Not only is it responsible for universities to address these basic needs, it would help reduce the other costs that may deter students from attending college like room and board. Overall, these recommendations should be used collectively to not only increase their individual impact, but also the general impact towards middle-class enrollment.

References

Fain, P. (2019, May 30). College enrollment declines continue. Inside Higher Ed. http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/05/30/college-enrollment-declines-continue

Fellowships and Scholarships Office. (2020). Outside scholarship databases. Carnegie Mellon University. https://www.cmu.edu/fso/outside-databases/index.html

Fry, R. & Cilluffo, A. (2019, May 30). A rising share of undergraduates are from poor families, especially at less selective colleges. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/05/22/a-rising-share-of-undergraduates-are-from-poor-families-especially-at-less-selective-colleges/

Hess, A. (2019, December 30). Student debt increased by 107% this decade, federal reserve data shows. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/30/student-debt-totals-increased-by-107percent-this-decade.html

Institute for Research on Higher Education. (2016). College affordability diagnosis: National report. Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania. https://irhe.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Natl_Affordability2016.pdf

Marcus, J. (2019, October 2). The students disappearing fastest from American campuses? Middle-class ones. The Hechinger Report. https://hechingerreport.org/the-students-disappearing-fastest-from-american-campuses-middle-class-ones/

Miller-Adams, M. (2015). Promise nation: Transforming communities through place-based scholarships. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

Seltzer, R. (2017, September 25). The tuition-reset strategy. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/09/25/trustees-and-new-presidents-lead-push-tuition-resets-despite-debate-over-practices

U.S. Department of Education. (2017). Percentage of recent high school completers enrolled in college, by income level: 1975 through 2016. Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_302.30.asp?current=yes

U.S. Department of Education (2019). 12-month enrollment component final data (2001-02 - 2017-18) and provisional data (2018-19). National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/