Clearinghouse Enrollment Insights
Annual Series of Enrollment Reports
Updated June 4, 2026
The Clearinghouse Enrollment Insights series is created to offer higher education institutions, policy makers, and researchers a continuous and cohesive understanding of enrollment trends. It includes three reports released throughout the academic year.
The Preliminary Fall Enrollment Trends report provides a first look at fall enrollment trends (released November). The Final Fall Enrollment Trends report (previously known as the Current Term Enrollment Estimates fall report, typically released in January) provides the final enrollment estimates for the fall term based on comprehensive data. The Final Spring Enrollment Trends report (previously known as the Current Term Enrollment Estimates spring report, typically released in June) provides final enrollment estimates for the spring term.
It is the same trusted research with an evolved structure for our enrollment report series to better serve the planning and decision making of educational leaders.
Highlights from the Final Spring Enrollment Trends 2026 Report
- Spring 2026 postsecondary enrollment totaled 18.6 million students, up 1.0 percent from spring 2025 (+192,000). Undergraduate enrollment increased to 15.5 million (+1.3%), while graduate enrollment held steady at 3.1 million (-0.1%).
- Undergraduate enrollment gains came primarily from public institutions: community colleges grew 3.1 percent and public 4-year institutions grew 1.5 percent. Enrollment at private nonprofit and private for-profit 4-year institutions was essentially unchanged (-0.1% and -0.5%, respectively).
- Master’s program enrollment fell 1.3 percent to 2.0 million this spring, reflecting declines at both public and private nonprofit 4-year institutions. At the undergraduate level, enrollment increased across certificate, associate, and bachelor’s programs, with undergraduate certificate programs continuing to post the fastest growth (+10.2%).
- Graduate international student enrollment declined 4.3 percent (-7,000) compared to last spring, driven by declines at public 4-year institutions (-9.2%).
- Hispanic, Black, and multiracial students had large enrollment growth at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
- After two years of strong growth, enrollment at high vocational public two-year institutions increased more modestly this spring (+2.8%, +24,000). High transfer institutions, which account for nearly half of all public two-year enrollments, saw the largest gains in that sector (+5.5%, +112,000).
- For the third consecutive year, undergraduate enrollment in Health Professions increased across all award levels and institution types, rising between 6.0 to 7.1 percent this spring. By contrast, Computer and Information Sciences enrollment declined sharply compared to the spring of 2025, down 8.4 percent at four-year institutions and -11.2 percent at two-year institutions.
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