Dive Brief:

• New data from the Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics show losses in the higher education sector spurred on by a shrinking number of for-profit schools.
• The total number of federal aid-eligible institutions dropped 1.5% from 2012-13 to 2014-15, with for-profit institutions dropping 2.6% of their total, all degree-granting institutions.
• The number of students dropped across undergraduate and graduate institutions by 4.2%, with double-digit losses at two- and four-year for-profits, two-year private nonprofits, and fewer than two-year institutions overall.

Dive Insight:

In real numbers, the for-profit colleges eligible for federal financial aid dropped from 3,527 schools in 2012-13 to 3,436 this past school year. Private nonprofits actually saw an increase in the number of schools from 1,880 to 1,883. The majority of the loss in students came among undergraduates, with the number of graduate students dropping just 1.6% from 2011-12 to 2013-14, the latest year for which there is data available.

Public community colleges enroll the vast majority of students pursuing two-year degrees. They lost 7.5% of their students, or 739,160 people, from 2011-12 to 2013-14.