RICHMOND, Va. (AP)- Virginia higher education officials are trying to figure out why 1.5 percent fewer students enrolled in the state's public and private colleges and universities this academic year.
That’s despite the fact that there was an increase in the pool of high school seniors who could have filled those seats.
Public four-year universities posted a modest increase, but those gains were outweighed by declines at the Virginia Community College System and at Liberty University.
The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Director of Policy Research and Data Warehousing Tod R. Massa says he is awaiting data from the U.S. Department of Education before he can offer an explanation for the decline.
Total enrollment across Virginia's higher education sector was about 521,000, down 3.4 percent from the peak count in 2012-13.
