Facing New Student Loan Rules, For-Profit Colleges See Enrollments Fall

Shannon Rasberry  Years of record enrollment growth at for-profit colleges may be coming to an end.

New student enrollments have declined at many for-profit institutions, according to earnings reports released over the past few weeks.

When compared to last year’s figures, new student enrollment was down 2 percent at Strayer Education and down 3.9 percent at ITT Education Services. Corinthian Colleges said it expected declines of 5 to 7 percent this year, while DeVry and Capella Education both announced expectations that new enrollment would drop slightly.

The decline in new student enrollments was most severe at the University of Phoenix, the largest for-profit college in the nation. Although the Apollo Group, the University of Phoenix’s parent company, said that new enrollment had fallen 10 percent in the quarter that ended Aug. 31, the company warned that numbers could sink more than 40 percent in the quarter ending Nov. 30 (