In the economic crisis following the COVID-19 pandemic, older students have flocked to higher education. Every fall from 2021 to 2024, the number of first-time students over the age of 25 increases—including the biggest jump in the fall of 2024, when new students over the age of 25 grew 18.7 percent over the previous year, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
But this past fall, that trend reversed. The number of first-time students over the age of 25 has decreased by 15.5 percent from the fall of 2024 to 2025. And while some experts see that decline as a concession to post-COVID enrollment growth, others say it’s a trend worth paying attention to, especially at a time when institutions are increasingly relying on older enrollments to offset graduation numbers.
“We’re always very careful about our undergraduate enrollment, because we’re dealing with a decline in the number of older students going to college,” said Beth Donaldson, managing director of consulting services for EAB, an enrollment management company. And many students of all ages are deciding to skip college altogether, he added. “Therefore, institutions must now think carefully about their marketing strategies and how to reach older students.”
This decline was steepest at private colleges, where older students already make up a small minority of students, and was most severe at public colleges, where new enrollments for those over 25 dropped 11.7 percent.
First Senior Student
Over the past few decades, institutions, particularly community colleges and state universities, have focused on serving older students, strengthening support services and increasing curriculum flexibility to accommodate programs for working adults and children.
But in most cases, efforts to recruit these students primarily target those who have completed some college credits. Many states and individual institutions have launched efforts to reach this group, many of which have proven successful. For example, over a four-year period, a North Carolina program aimed at re-enrolling college dropouts brought 3,098 students—just under a quarter of those the program connected with—back to college.
New seniors, on the other hand, make up only about 10 percent of all seniors, according to Susan Mayer, chief academic officer of Achieving the Dream, a nonprofit network of community colleges.
It’s not that colleges aren’t interested in recruiting freshmen, enrollment leaders say. Within Higher Ed. But it’s harder to find them than to reach former students who are already in the institution’s records and can’t be contacted directly.
Andrea Soonachan, the university’s executive director of K–16 programs and adult pathways at the City University of New York—which bucked the national trend and increased enrollment of adults over 25 percent by 14 percent this fall—said the program has developed several unique ways to reach both new and returning adults, including providing marketing materials to family members of high school graduates.
“Over the last four years or so, we’ve really made efforts to make sure that seniors know that they’re welcome at CUNY, that they can succeed at CUNY, that we have the supports and services to help them reach their goals at CUNY, because we’ve been really intentional about making sure that they’re part of our long-term strategy,” Soonachan said.
Causes of Shrinkage
Experts have cited several reasons why first-time senior enrollment may have declined this year. Several say the ongoing debate about the value of college may have played a role, especially considering that first-time alumni don’t have the same perspective as returning students who already have some college under their belt.
“The problem with always questioning the importance of higher education in the public sector is that some adults who are on the verge of deciding between going to college or not going to college will eventually decide not to enroll,” said Justin Ortagus, a professor of higher education and public policy at the University of Texas at Austin. “And oftentimes, these conversations are politically motivated and don’t reflect more information … There is a perception of a low or declining value of higher education, and there is a reality that is reflected in the data about the labor market advantage.”
Financial decisions are also a big factor; Although anyone entering higher education should consider costs, older students who are already working should consider opportunity costs, not just how much they will pay for education but also how much income they will lose when they go to school. That choice is especially challenging for students with no prior credits, because their completion time will be longer.
Temporary credentials—offered not only by higher education institutions but also by outside companies—have proliferated in recent years and can be of particular interest to working adults looking to improve or change careers. A 2025 report by Credential Engine, a nonprofit that researches the credentialing landscape, listed 6,549 providers of course completion certificates—a type of credential awarded for completing an online course, such as a code registration field. That number may include higher education institutions, but most of them include for-profit companies, the report said.
As those methods become more common—and, in many cases, receive state support and funding—adults hoping to learn new professional skills may turn to alternatives to traditional higher education.
Concerns about the current employment situation may prevent older students from starting degree programs, says Mayer of Achieving the Dream.
“As we’ve come out of COVID, there’s been a lot of retraining, reskilling and retraining of workers. There’s no question that will continue. But I think there’s some confusion in the market about the impact AI and other technologies will have and what that means for the right skills development program to register,” he said. “I wonder if there are people standing back waiting to see.”
Experts are divided on whether the decline is something institutions should worry about. Mayer noted that because the total number of new-age students is relatively small, any decline in their enrollment may look worse than it actually is.
But Marcus Crook, vice president of student recruitment and enrollment at Ivy Tech Community College, a two-year program in Indiana, which saw a year-over-year increase in senior enrollment this fall, said he found the data point worth noting.
He noted that first-time older students often face some unique obstacles, including worrying about whether higher education is right for them and navigating unfamiliar processes. Ivy Tech, he said, has been successful in enrolling new seniors in large part because the program has a number of resources aimed at helping seniors navigate that unfamiliar territory.
When senior enrollment declines across the country, “there’s always a reason why,” he said. “There are credentials that you can get that aren’t part of the higher education that they would need to get them into employment … so that’s something that should be looked at across the country as we move forward.”
