After the worst enrollment drop in a decade, colleges hoped COVID-19 vaccinations and in-person offerings would reel students back in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But early fall undergraduate enrollment data<\/a> suggest \u201cno signs of recovery\u201d, with the nation\u2019s public universities historically serving low-income students of color<\/a> hit hardest, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Across 2- and 4-year public and private nonprofit institutions, numbers continue to decline nationwide<\/a>, now 6.5 percent below pre-pandemic 2019 levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. <\/em>Sign up for The 74 Newsletter<\/strong><\/a><\/p> And key public institutions, such as California\u2019s Community Colleges<\/a>, Pennsylvania\u2019s State <\/a>Universities, and the State University of New York system<\/a>, are experiencing the worst declines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First-year enrollment at community colleges for the 2021-22 academic year is 20.9 percent behind fall 2019. Total undergraduate enrollment at community colleges is 14.1 percent behind. In contrast, 4-year private nonprofit colleges experienced a 1.2 percent drop from 2019 to 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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