Across California, colleges are still struggling with a decrease in enrollment numbers as most have yet to recover from last spring where the entire nation experienced one of the largest enrollment declines.

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, who published a report in June of 2021 about spring enrollment across the country, “Overall spring enrollment fell to 16.9 million from 17.5 million, marking a one-year decline of 3.5 percent or 603,000 students, seven times worse than the decline a year earlier.”

The report then goes on to state, “Among all age groups, traditional college-age students decline the most (-5% age 18-24), largely attributable to their steep losses at community colleges (-13.2%). Adult students (25 or older) on the other hand, show a 2 to 3% gain at public four-year and private four-year colleges.”  

California colleges seem to be getting hit the hardest in terms of drops in undergraduate enrollments.

“California is doing worse than the national averages by 1 or 2 percentage points in terms of the declines this spring compared with last,” said Doug Shapiro, executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, in a quote for the Los Angeles Times.

There is no doubt that these enrollment declines are a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether due to financial struggles, online classes, or any other number of issues that have only worsened since the start of the pandemic, more and more students are finding themselves opting out of college all together.

In June of 2020, the Press Democrat reported that Sonoma State University was expected to see a “20% decline in enrollment among incoming freshman and up to an 8% drop campus-wide, as faculty and staff brace for an academic year clouded by budget cuts and unbalanced by students still working out where school fits in the midst of a global pandemic and nationwide recession.”  

Last March, the Sonoma State Star reported that the university was dealing with a financial deficit of $9.2 million because of a decline in enrollment starting in 2015, has only continued to worsen with the pandemic.  

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be much public information available on Fall 2021 semester enrollment statistics. However, the U.S. News & World Report website reports that enrollment at SSU for 2021 was 8,649. While this is not too far of a decrease from the last three to five years, this number does not account for lack of students physically on campus.

With a much smaller campus population, the university faces a serious lack of funds that would normally have come from housing, meal plans, and other on-campus resources.

Despite all the struggles, the university is thrilled to welcome students back to campus and as University President Judy Sakaki wrote in an update from the president on August 26, “There is comfort and joy in returning to shared day-to-day experiences, even as we continue to adapt to the ever-changing challenges of the pandemic.”