Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | February 21, 2022 | wbjournal.com Waiting on students Students are seeking out alternatives to the college investment, leaving institutions in financial precarity BY KATHERINE HAMILTON WBJ Staff Writer F rom 2019 to 2020, the percent of Worcester's Burncoat High School seniors applying to college fell from 93% to 50% as the coronavirus pandemic altered nearly every corner of education. A year later, that figure has continued to fall to 40%, said Sharon McLaughlin, an education advisor at Massachusetts Education & Career Opportunities, Inc., who added she hopes to see some increase before the end of the year. e pandemic caused an initial dive in college enrollment numbers, which have yet to plateau despite most schools' return to in-person learning. "Students are making a lot of different choices," said McLaughlin, who works with high school juniors and seniors. "ey're not interested in college." Two years of pandemic-related enrollment declines are sure to have considerable impacts on colleges, but educators say the problem could be more long-term, as student attitudes toward the financial investment of higher education are shiing significantly. "We have a long-term plan that shows us being a smaller institution than we were pre-pandemic," said Dale Hamel, executive vice president of administration and finance at Framingham State University. "We're hoping those are conservative assumptions, but I think they're appropriate at this point." Shifting priorities Affordability is the greatest barrier for students considering higher education, as it is the most common reason unenrolled students give for not attending college, according to a February report from Seattle-based data analyst firm Intelligent. On average, tuition rates at state and community colleges excluding UMass have increased 25.3% since Dale Hamel of Framingham State says shrinking enrollment rates will have long-term financial effects on the college.

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