Total undergraduate and graduate enrollment in the fall term declined by 1.4% to 19.01 million students last semester according to a report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Undergraduate enrollment, by itself, decreased by 1.9%, while graduate enrollment rose by 1.5%.

A large portion of this decline is students over the age of 24, as they may find jobs rather than return to school.

Four-year private schools saw a 0.6% decline to 3.79 million students in the fall. For-profit colleges suffered a 14.5% decrease to 970,267 students. These declines are often attributed to affordability and rising tuition prices.

Public four-year colleges, on the other hand, saw a 0.2% increase to 8.1 million students. Lower tuition prices, better educational quality and higher graduation rates are to thank for this increase.  

To read the full report in The Wall Street Journal, click here.