Good Question: Has the number of people going to college gone up?

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - It’s the time of year when a lot of high school students are planning what they’ll do after graduation.

That leads us to today’s good question. Talor Asks, Has the number of people going to college gone up?

Recently, no. The Education Data Initiative says the total enrollment at colleges has been roughly 20 million people since 2009.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps track of the percentage of recent high school graduates, aged 16 to 24, who enrolled in college for the past 30 years. There has been a rise from 62% in 1993 to 69% in 2016 and 2018.

There are dips, but generally, the trend was upward from the 1990s to 2009, when it leveled off. That is, until 2020 and 2021 when the number drops back down to around 62% during the pandemic.

We don’t know if that trend will continue or if there will be a return to normal when it comes to enrollment.

If you have a Good Question you’d like us to try to answer, send it to goodquestion@wkyt.com.

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