The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center leverages the robust data reported to the Clearinghouse by participating institutions nationwide to provide vital insights into student journeys and success. By analyzing shifts in enrollment, progress, and completions, higher education leaders can monitor crucial trends, benchmark performance, and identify areas for improvement. We spoke with Matthew Holsapple, Senior Director of Research at the National Student Clearinghouse, to explore the key trends emerging from the Research Center’s latest reports.
Over the past year, the Research Center’s reports have shown increases in college enrollment. Does this indicate that higher education has finally turned the corner since the pandemic?
This year marks the third straight year of undergraduate enrollment growth nationwide after the declines in enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic. That is huge, given where we were during the pandemic. It really does give me hope that we have turned a corner and that learners across the country continue to see the value in a college credential — whether a certificate, associate degree, or a bachelor’s degree.
Are completions following the same trend?
College completion rates were rising before the pandemic and were largely unaffected by it. Between the cohort that entered in 2009, whose six-year graduate rate was calculated in the spring of 2015, and the cohort that entered in 2018 and graduated by last spring, college completion increased 10 points — up from 51% to 61%. During this time, the most significant increase was in the for-profit sector.
What trends are you seeing for community colleges?
Community colleges are one sector that continues to see lower enrollment than before the COVID-19 pandemic. In the fall of 2019, 5.2 million students were enrolled in public two-year schools; by the fall of 2021, enrollment had fallen by 800,000. Despite three years of enrollment increases, this past fall saw almost 400,000 fewer students than were enrolled in these public two-year colleges in 2019.
What age-related trends have you seen?
One notable trend is the increase in students in high school/college dual enrollment programs. Since the fall of 2021, the number of college enrollees 17 or younger has experienced a more than 20% increase. And while community college enrollment continues to lag behind pre-pandemic rates, more than half of those new dual enrollment students are at community colleges, making them an important — and growing — student group at these schools.
What trends are you seeing across economic differences?
The Research Center developed a measure based on the average household income of a student’s neighborhood, and the data shows increases in enrollment across every level of neighborhood income since the pandemic. But we still see significant economic disparities. Students from low-poverty high schools are almost 1.5 times more likely to enroll in college than their peers from high-poverty high schools. Nearly 10 times as many students from the wealthiest quintile of neighborhoods attend selective colleges as those from the least wealthy.
Are there any trends that have surprised you?
There has been a continued increase in the number of students earning bachelor’s degrees in computer science. Over the past decade, the number of students earning bachelor’s degrees in computer science has doubled — while other fields mostly have stayed steady. We are likely to see computer science numbers continue to grow — four-year college enrollment in these programs has increased by a third in just the last five years. Students are clearly looking at the world and seeing opportunities in this field.
Have you observed any trends in learner pathways?
There is a continued increase in students pursuing undergraduate certificates. About 1 in 7 credential earners last year earned a certificate. More than 10% of learners who earned a credential last year earned more than one — that was part of the special analysis in our recent Undergraduate Degree Earners report. More than a third of undergraduate certificate earners also earned another credential at the same time.
This reflects a broader shift towards personalized and modular learning experiences.
What’s next for the Research Center’s reports?
Over the past few years, we have moved all our reporting from static PDFs to dynamic dashboards. This has been an exciting development, as the dashboards let readers dig into the data to examine populations or answer questions of particular interest to them. As we move forward, we continue to evaluate and improve the dashboards to make them as usable and dynamic as we can, expand the ways readers can explore the data.
Like almost everyone in research, we are exploring how generative AI can support and expand our work. We are approaching this in cautious and measured ways, making data security and accuracy our most important commitments. But there are exciting possibilities on the horizon.
We are currently planning our slate of research publications for the 2025-26 academic year, and we are excited about some new things in the works — stay tuned!
