US computer science enrollment drops 18% in two years

The National Student Clearinghouse’s preliminary fall enrollment report provides an early view of changes in US college enrollment, using a panel of institutions that reported consistently across the years examined. Its dashboard allows users to compare national and state trends over three years and examine enrollment by institution type, selectivity and location, as well as student characteristics such as age, race and ethnicity, program level, enrollment intensity, neighborhood income and field of study. The estimates are provisional and may change; final fall figures are scheduled for release in January.

For fall 2026, total postsecondary enrollment is nearly unchanged from the previous year, rising 0.2%. Undergraduate enrollment is up 0.6%, with community colleges growing 1.2%, while graduate enrollment fell 1.6%, largely because master’s enrollment declined 3.7%. Enrollment increased among Black and Hispanic students but decreased among Asian and White students; the report cautions that missing race and ethnicity data complicate interpretation. Computer and information science programs show the sharpest field-specific losses, with enrollment down 12.4% at four-year institutions, 12.3% at two-year institutions and 10.4% in graduate programs. Health majors grew across all three categories, led by a 6.2% increase in undergraduate four-year programs.