Newsroom
Numbers of high school students increasing - but at a slower pace
February 28, 2019
There is some good news for colleges and universities, but not great news, when it comes to high school enrollment.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released the Projections of Education Statistics to 2027 yesterday, and it shows that high school enrollment increased 7 percent between 2002 and 2015 and high school enrollment is projected to increase 3 percent between 2015 and 2027 to 17 million. Enrollment in pre-K through eighth grade is expected to grow at 4 percent through 2027, faster than the 2 percent increase from 2002 to 2015.
This report provides national-level data on enrollment, teachers, high school graduates, and expenditures at the elementary and secondary level, and enrollment and degrees at the postsecondary level for the past 15 years and projections to the year 2027. For each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the tables, figures, and text contain data on projections of public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2027.
The slowing increase in high school students will mean a drop in the number of potential college students in future years. That is probably not news to many higher education institutions. However, what may be news - and hopefully good news - is that the numbers are projected to increase with in enrollment at the lower grade levels going up.