Nationally, college enrollment has decreased at a rate of about 1.5% each year since 2011. Ohio’s higher education institutions aren’t exempt from the national trends. In the last 10 years, total enrollment has decreased 11.4%, according to the Ohio Department of Higher Education.

The university system of Ohio enrolled a total of 509,714 students in fall 2014. This fall, that number dropped to 451,477 students.

UC President Neville Pinto says making a college education more accessible to the region and beyond is an important part of the university’s mission. 

“Where are we going to be as a country if we don’t continue the growth of our talent pool,” Pinto told the Cincinnati Business Courier. “Is it sufficient to just have 39% of our population going to college? Or do we have to aspire for a higher number?

“We’ve got to start to reach out to populations that otherwise would not go to college … and build the structures and the programs that create pathways for them to come here. We cannot have this elitist model … to have a strong democracy, everyone has to have equal opportunity.”

Read the full story in the Cincinnati Business Courier.

If subscription fees are required, email cedric.ricks@uc.edu for a PDF of the story.

Featured top image of UC President Neville Pinto speaking during the grand re-opening of Siddall Hall. Photo by Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand.