By T’Neil Gooden
As the spring semester comes to an end, Brooklyn College’s enrollment numbers have reached a new low as the number of undergraduate students continues to decrease.
According to official reports released by BC, the enrollment number at BC has continued to decline annually, leading to the target enrollment for spring 2024 to have a decrease of around 950 students. Compared to spring 2023 data, the number of students who did not enroll increased by over 800.
After the spike in enrollment of students in the fall of 2021, the number of undergraduate students enrolled has constantly declined at BC. The number has decreased by over 200 students annually after that growth in 2021.
In contrast, the graduate student enrollment at BC has increased by over 50 students. The numbers went from 2,273 in the spring of 2023, to 2,362 students in the spring of 2024. This has been the area with the most increase within the BC enrollment numbers of 2024.
The school has not been able to hit its target since 2021, even as student life returned in-person after COVID-19 as public, private, and community schools began to open their doors.
In the spring of 2021, around 15,902 students were enrolled at BC, and though this had decreased from the numbers in the fall of 2021, it was still a high number. Since then, the total enrollment number has been 12,002 BC students for the spring of 2024.
At the beginning of this year, CUNY announced that they would be extending the deadline for students to commit to college to June 1. In a statement released by CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, he emphasized that CUNY will continue its efforts to make college education accessible for all through financial aid.
“For millions of young adults wrestling over where to attend college, access to financial aid is often the deciding factor. This is particularly true for CUNY: an institution founded on the promise of providing a public first-rate education to all students, regardless of means,” said Chancellor Rodríguez. “By pushing back Commitment Day, we’re able to provide students and families the flexibility to make an informed decision and enable more New Yorkers to seize the benefits of public higher education.”
According to the New York City Comptroller, CUNY numbers overall have increased in the past year after a drastic decline in enrollment.
“In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, CUNY has faced notable budget and operational constraints. Enrollment has declined nearly 15 percent since the fall of 2019—though it increased slightly from 2023 to 2024 academic years—impacting tuition revenue and funding,” reported the Comptroller.
Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez spoke on CUNY enrollment in his “State of CUNY” address conference back in October of 2023, and advocated for the importance of increasing the numbers, according to Chalkbeat.
“Enrollment might just sound like a lot of numbers, but it’s fundamental,” said Rodríguez. “It’s a tangible measure of how well we’re delivering on our core mission of providing access to a first-rate education to everyone in our city.”