2024 Student Enrollment Report from PeakMade Client Services

Download the full report by clicking HERE

Enrollment figures are always a major topic of discussion within the student housing industry, and much has already been written about the evolving shifts the United States saw during the post-recession era (2010 – 2018) and the Covid-19 Pandemic era (2019 – 2023) leading up to present day. With the Fall 2024 semester underway at all major universities across the country, we’re now roughly one year away from what has been referred to as an “enrollment cliff”, where the number of high-school graduates will peak at around 3.5 million.

In the coming five to ten years after 2025, the college-age population is expected to decrease by as much as 15%. This data is driven almost exclusively by a documented birthrate drop that occurred after the 2008 recession, leading to naturally lower high school graduation rates. In addition, college-age students are continuously evaluating the cost of attendance and weighing that against the long-term return they’ll receive for their diploma(s) and degree(s). Some higher education institutions are already seeing the impacts of this: class sizes are beginning to shrink, large cuts in funding, institution closures.

However, larger institutions are pushing back on this narrative. They are anticipating a peak in enrollment numbers and then a slight decline as opposed to the dramatic “cliff”. PeakMade Real Estate firmly believes that we’ll continue to see institutions try to recruit “non-traditional” students (e.g. students with families, students delaying education to their late 20s and early 30s, etc.) as well as bolster their online and distance learning programs to boost their enrollment figures. We also anticipate that we’ll continue to see budgetary constraints on smaller institutions that will inevitably lead to students transferring to other institutions that could ultimately result in more potential closures.

You can learn more about individual university changes by reading the full enrollment report located HERE .

For more information about this report reach out to Brady Adams, Client Services Manager at [email protected] .

Mark Winklemann, VP Client Sevices - [email protected]

Chris Warner, Director of Client Services - [email protected]

Evan Snyder, Client Services Associate - [email protected]