August 2025

Higher Ed Insights

A review of the latest, most actionable data for higher education leaders.

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What does the most recent higher education research tell us?

The stability and future of colleges and universities in the United States has been a frequent topic in public discourse. Many have been quick to declare that the rise in competition from non-institutional education providers and broader demographic trends spell doom for colleges and universities. Against these headwinds, however, total enrollment continues to grow.

Spring 2025 enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) Research Center's Current Term Enrollment Estimates show that aggregate enrollment in higher education grew 3.2% year-over-year to 18.4 million (an increase of 562,000 students). As of Spring 2025, aggregate enrollment sits 1.9% above Spring 2020 enrollment of 18.0 million.Enrollment growth is not evenly concentrated. From Spring 2021 to Spring 2025, undergraduate enrollment grew 1.8%. In Spring 2025 alone, however, undergraduate enrollment grew 3.5% year-over-year. At the graduate level, enrollment grew 2.6% from Spring 2021 to Spring 2025, but year-over-year growth in Spring 2025 was slightly more modest at just 1.5%.Public institutions continue to dominate the enrollment landscape, enrolling 71.2% of all students in Spring 2025. Enrollment at these institutions grew 3.7% year-over-year in Spring 2025, but Spring enrollment at these institutions has not yet surpassed Spring 2020 levels. At private institutions (both for-profit and not-for-profit), enrollment grew 1.8% year-over-year in Spring 2025. While enrollment at private institutions remains 3.0% higher than in Spring 2020, substantial financial pressure remains on these institutions, in particular. The credit rating firm, Fitch Ratings, has recently noted that the median adjusted operating margin for private institutions fell 2.0% in 2024 to the lowest level observed in a decade.Enrollment growth in Spring 2025 was also unevenly distributed across student levels.

Undergraduate enrollment sat at 15.26 million in Spring 2025, 3.5% above Spring 2024. Graduate enrollment in Spring 2025 sat at 3.11 million, just 1.5% above Spring 2024. At the undergraduate level, volume continues to be led by the bachelor's degree, however growth is led by associate's degrees. Associate's degree enrollment sat at 4.44 million in Spring 2025, 6.3% above Spring 2024. Associate's degree enrollment has yet to fully recover from the tectonic shifts that occurred during, and immediately after the pandemic, and as of Spring 2025, this enrollment remains 7.8% below Spring 2020 levels. At the graduate level, master's enrollment sat at 1.83 million in Spring 2025, up a modest 1.1% from Spring 2024. Master's enrollment has been on a strong trajectory since the pandemic, however, and Spring 2025 enrollment in these programs sat 6.9% above Spring 2020 levels.Enrollment growth continues to be strong in non-degree programming. From Spring 2020 to Spring 2025, enrollment in graduate certificate programs grew 26.5% (the fastest observed growth), and enrollment in undergraduate certificates grew 20.1%.Similar trends can be observed in the most recent data about online students as reported by BestColleges. In their recently released report titled the 2025 Online Education Trends Report, BestCollege's reports that the percentage of online students that are enrolling in associate's degree programs grew from 18% in 2021 to 28% in 2025, and that the percentage enrolling in non-degree programs doubled from 9% in 2021 to 18% in 2025.All told, while the future of higher education remains somewhat uncertain, the most recent data paints a relatively positive picture of what has occurred recently, and points to key opportunities for higher education institutions. Fill out the form below to get your free digital copy of this report today.