The coronavirus pandemic has altered higher education in previously unimaginable ways. Much of the news coverage has focused on debates over campus closures and the decline in enrollment in public and nonprofit institutions. What has not received enough attention is the simultaneous increase in enrollment in for-profit institutions. A recent report by the National Student Clearinghouse provides some of the first figures documenting college enrollment changes during the pandemic. The patterns are alarming. Undergraduate enrollment in for-profits is up 3% over last year, in stark contrast to a 9% decline in public community college enrollment.
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