Fall 2020 Enrollment Scenarios, Part 2: Adult Undergraduates

This is the second in our series of Insights Reports that weigh enrollment prospects for fall 2020 in the middle of the global COVID-19 pandemic. This report turns to domestic adult undergraduates at four-year schools.

The countercyclical adult student story is a familiar one: when the economy crashes, adult enrollment jumps. The COVID-19 recession is certainly wreaking economic havoc but is not a normal downturn. The report considers the adult enrollment track record of different types of schools and weighs various factors that speak to the normality and abnormality of a pandemic-induced slump.