College Freshman Enrollment Drops during Pandemic

[...]this change in freshman enrollment happens predominantly in two-year colleges. [...]the financial strain and future uncertainty caused by the pandemic made college less affordable for many families.- Potential enrollees may have expected less help from their parents and faced greater out-ofpocket costs to attend college. [...]for-profit, four-year schools are far more likely to offer associate degrees than other four-year schools.- Insofar as community college starters seek these two-year degrees over four-year degrees, this availability of two-year degrees at for-profit "four-year" schools would make them a better-seeming substitute for degrees from two-year public schools, further driving enrollment changes. [...]the Census Bureau projects no consistent decline in the 18-to 24-year-old population through 2060.