The number of students at U.S. colleges and universities fell nearly 2% between May 2014 and this month, continuing a four-year slide, according to a report to be released Thursday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. As of this month, 18.6 million students were enrolled, down about 1 million students from the peak in 2011. Enrollment spiked during the recession when more adults went back to school to retrain. As the labor market has improved, many have returned to work. “The recovering job market is the most likely cause of the enrollment decline,” said Jason DeWitt, research manager at the Clearinghouse. “Since October of 2009, the unemployment rate has dropped four percentage points.”

May 14, 2015 ・ From The Wall Street Journal