
College enrollment has been gradually declining over the past ten years, particularly among young men, according to Pew Research Center.
Colleges in America have represented the gateway to elite institutions and upper mobility for generations, but between expensive costs and various controversies, many appear to be second-guessing spending years in academia, especially men, and demographers are starting to notice.
Most of the decline is due to fewer young men pursuing college," Pew reported. "About 1 million fewer young men are in college but only 0.2 million fewer young women. As a result, men make up 44% of young college students today, down from 47% in 2011, according to newly released U.S. Census Bureau data."
The study added further, "This shift is driven entirely by the falling share of men who are students at four-year colleges. Today, men represent only 42% of students ages 18 to 24 at four-year schools, down from 47% in 2011."
Polling from 2021 may explain some of the reasons why, as "Roughly a third (34%) of men without a bachelor’s degree say a major reason they didn’t complete college is that they just didn’t want to" and 26% of them stated they did not need further education for the careers they wanted.
