| SEATTLE, WA – After three years of steep declines, postsecondary enrollment in Washington is showing signs of recovery. According to data shared with Washington Roundtable by the state’s public postsecondary institutions, 51,000+ fewer students enrolled in public institutions this past fall than in fall of 2019 – representing a 17% enrollment decline since the pandemic’s onset. This comes when postsecondary education is increasingly the only pathway to middle-class jobs.
From the Partnership for Learning:
- At Washington’s public four-year institutions, fall 2023 enrollment is down 12.3% (-10,713 students) compared to 2019 pre-pandemic enrollment.
- Final fall 2023 enrollment across Washington’s 34 community and technical colleges is down 18.4% (-40,725 students) compared to pre-pandemic, but year-over-year enrollment is showing signs of recovery.
There are bright spots in the preliminary fall 2023 enrollment data.
- CTC enrollment is up nearly 13,000 students year-over-year.
- Enrollment of first-year resident undergraduate students in the public four-year system is up 3% year-over-year.
- Enrollment of Black students has increased since the pandemic’s onset, up 2.3%.
Washington has added more than 500,000 jobs since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic; another 500,000 are expected by the end of this decade. By 2031, 72% of jobs in our state will require postsecondary training or credentials, yet it’s estimated that just 40% of our students are on track to complete them. |
