After several years of record high enrollment, the number of students at the University of Hawaii’s 10-campus system dropped this fall to 59,288, echoing an overall national decline in college attendance in 2012.
The university said 1,345 fewer students enrolled for the current semester, down 2.2 percent from last fall.
The decrease, UH said, follows record-breaking enrollments in each of the last five years. Enrollment had grown by 17 percent since 2007.
The UH-West Oahu campus and three of the community colleges posted gains while all other campuses had slight decreases.
UH-West Oahu grew the most with a gain of 380 students to 2,403 students, an 18.8 percent increase. The school opened its new Kapolei campus last fall after decades in portable classrooms adjacent to Leeward Community College.
Enrollment at the flagship Manoa campus fell by 2 percent, or 408 students, to 19,912 students. UH-Manoa attributed the decline primarily to graduate students, adding that the incoming freshmen class was up slightly to 2,011 students.
UH-Hilo had a 3.3 percent drop to 4,034 students.
At community colleges there was an overall 3.5 percent decrease for a total enrollment of 32,939 students. But individually, Windward, Leeward and Kauai community college campuses saw slight year-over-year gains.
Hawaii Community College in Hilo had the biggest percentage decline among UH campuses with a 6.6 percent drop, or 244 fewer students. But Kapiolani Community College took the biggest hit with individual students, 558 fewer students representing a 6.1 percent drop.
"Enrollment in higher education typically runs counter to economic growth," Linda Johnsrud, system executive vice president for academic affairs, said in a statement. "Students often leave college when the economy provides more jobs. This is particularly true of the community college students."
UH said its enrollment figures include typical on-campus students as well as those enrolled in a college’s distance-learning programs.
Nationally, college enrollment in fall 2012 plunged by some 467,000 students from the year before, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this month. The report said the decline was mostly fueled by a drop in the number of older students (above age 25).
Analysts have said the trend is expected to last several years amid concerns about escalating college costs and a declining number of high-school graduates across the country. Also, many adults who went back to school during the recession have since re-entered the workforce.
