Despite Record-Breaking Enrollment,

Rate Of College Growth Slows

HARTFORD — Although Connecticut colleges are enrolling record numbers of students for the second consecutive year, the increase is only at a 0.5 percent growth rate.

Final headcounts inched up 0.4 percent to 107,237 students at state-supported institutions and 0.7 percent to 62,404 students at the state’s independent colleges and universities. The remaining 983 attend the US Coast Guard Academy, a federal institution.

A key trend is the continued strong presence of full-time students (up 3.5 percent) who now make up 62 percent of all Connecticut college students, the highest in at least 16 years and reflecting, at least partially, the state’s expanding pool of high school graduates. Growth in full-time students bodes well for the state’s workforce since these persons tend to be younger and graduate in a timelier manner. Greater full-time counts also signal that campus resources are being used more efficiently.

Yet the smaller gain in overall college enrollment is startling given recent accelerating increases in each of the past three years and the projected surge of 13 percent in Connecticut’s public high school graduates by 2008.

Commissioner of Higher Education Valerie F. Lewis said that the enrollment numbers were generally positive news for Connecticut.

“Higher college enrollment translates into more graduates needed to fuel our highly qualified workforce,” she said. “We are concerned, however, about the surprisingly slower rate of growth which differs from past trends and from demographics lead us to expect. Although one year doesn’t make a trend, this ‘hitting the brakes’ may be a crucial warning that steep hikes in tuition coupled with cutbacks in student aid and fewer course selections could have a real impact on our market.”