EDUCATION + SCHOOLS

Nation’s college age population expected to decline

Oct 13, 2024, 7:00 PM | Updated: Oct 14, 2024, 6:48 am

FILE - New graduates line up before the start of the Bergen Community College commencement at MetLi...

FILE - New graduates line up before the start of the Bergen Community College commencement at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J, May 17, 2018. The nation's college population is expected to decline. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

SALT LAKE CITY — The nation’s college age population is expected to start declining in 2025.

Andrea Brandley, senior analyst with the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute says that newly published research shows that there are fewer students attending and expected to attend colleges and universities.

She says that should put higher education in Utah on notice.

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“The publication is supposed to be a publication of hope, not a publication of doom and gloom. But I think there’s lots that can be done to improve higher ed and to help them navigate this challenge in the future,” Brandley said.

 She has some recommendations for high education administrators.

“If they need to put together some rainy day funds to help them through times when enrollment might decline, potentially limiting new hires, doing less facility construction to prepare for potential decline,” she said.

Utah’s overall population isn’t expected to start to dip until 2032, but the the decline could last about a dozen years. 

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Nation’s college age population expected to decline