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STEM Enrollment Is on the Rise

While college enrollment is on a downward trend, more students chose STEM.

Meghan Bogardus Cortez

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Meghan is an associate editor with EdTech. She enjoys coffee, cats and science fiction TV.

Overall enrollment for higher education institutions might be on the decline, but science, technology, engineering and mathematics are on the rise.

New research from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that across all types institutions, enrollment went down 1 percent — from 19 million to 18.8 million — from fall 2016 to fall 2017, Campus Technology reports.

The drop in first-time college students was most dramatic for nontraditional students over the age of 25. Across all these institutions, more undergraduate majors lost enrollment than gained it.

STEM majors were a big exception. Campus Technology reports that enrollments in STEM majors went up 2.2 percent. Majors related to computer and information sciences grew by 24,919 enrollments.

Biological and biomedical majors saw growth of 14,374 enrollments.