After a dip during the pandemic college enrollment is up, but recently released data from the shows enrollment for first-time students is declining.
Jenny Parks is vice president of policy and research at the , a compact that works alongside states in the Midwest to conduct research and improve access to higher education. She says this data represents a growing trend in college enrollment.
"There are a lot of other groups of students who are now coming to college and persisting," she told WVXU.
These non-traditional, non-first-time freshmen tend to be students returning to finish school after dropping out due to financial constraints, work, or other life events. Parks says this shift can be attributed to adjustments colleges and governments have made in and outside the classroom since the pandemic.
"As far as paying for college, there are a lot more innovative financial aid packages, and states are coming along with lots of 'promise programs' where if you get a certain GPA or you graduated from high school in our state we'll guarantee a certain level of financial support," Parks said.
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On top of tuition assistance, Parks is seeing a growing number of colleges add funding to help students pay for things like child care, books, and living expenses. These financial aid programs tend to be more common at community colleges and regional campuses, but now they're spreading to larger state institutions mostly populated by younger, traditional students.
What students say
Students like Joshua Kimble, from Cincinnati Public School's John J. Gilligan Digital Academy, say affordability will be a significant factor when choosing a school.
Kimble is a sophomore but already is attending college fairs to find out what colleges in the area can offer. He wants to graduate high school early and earn college credit before he arrives on campus to avoid collecting as much student debt as possible.
"You don't want to be in debt after you're out of college so you want to try to get as minimum debt as you can," he said.
Kimble wants to make comic book art and plans to study art and photography in college. But after speaking with a few schools, he's realizing his options may be limited as schools shrink arts and humanities departments and invest more in programs for business, medicine, and science degrees.
"It looks like they're taking out all that from the colleges," Kimble told WVXU.
Parks says this is true at many institutions across the region. Rather than spending years studying in college, more students are gravitating toward degree programs that can get them to the graduation stage in a hurry. Schools are upping the resources for those programs in an attempt to attract more students out of high school.
"The most popular programs just across the board are the ones that have a very close tie with getting out of school, getting a good job that pays a living wage that you can support a family on, and where they're not wasting any time in school, and they're not wasting any time between finishing school and entering the workforce," Parks said.
This fast track appeals to students like Amerria Watson, a sophomore at Woodward High School. Although she's a few years away from picking a school, she knows she wants to enter the medical field and become an OB-GYN or pediatrician. Watson says once she graduates from high school, the traditional four-year college experience won't be a priority. Instead, she's focused on getting her career started early.
"Knowing I can get rich," she said about her desire to continue her education. "I never want to be on campus."
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While colleges are responding to students like her by offering online degree programs and more focused academic tracks, other students say they're OK with taking their time to make their college experience more enjoyable.
Sanyia Farlow, a junior at Aiken High School, says campus life matters to her just as much as the cost, and what she's studying.
"The community. The environment. I work better when I'm in a college that's comfortable for me," Farlow said.
Farlow's mother, Saterra Harris, agrees. She's still concerned about debt but confident in her daughter's ability to do well in the classroom and earn scholarships to cover most of the cost of her education.
"You can do both," Harris said. " You can't always be so focused. You have to have some type of relaxation because you can get burnt out bad."
Cincinnati Public School's college access manager Emily Moroney says no matter what path students choose to take with continuing their education, she wants them to know there are plenty of ways for almost any student to find a pathway to college and make it affordable.
"Just put your name in the hat. You never know what can happen," she said. "I have scholarship entities coming out to me and begging me for students to give funding to."
Moroney says she encounters students who have written off college completely. The biggest challenge in her job now is getting the message across to students that the landscape of higher education is changing, and they have more options than they may have originally thought.
