Undergraduate Business Enrollment Declines in the United States

                  By Joseph Mondello

As AACSB completes the compiling of business school data for the academic year of 2010–11, one striking statistic stands out. There has been a noticeable drop in undergraduate enrollment for business programs, even as total college enrollments continue to rise. This tracks for private as well as public institutions and here is how the data breaks out:

Undergraduate Enrollment at AACSB US Institutions (2005-2010)
		Public - Total	Private - Total
2005-2006		639,602	123,851
2006-2007		647,791	129,485
2007-2008		664,029	132,347
2008-2009		660,684	135,190
2009-2010		644,432	129,014
2010-2011		616,257	124,498

Of course, this may be a mere blip on the screen of business school enrollments and could pass as quickly as it came. Perhaps the population of 18-24 year olds has fallen in recent years, leading to a temporary shortage, but this is belied, again, by the overall rise in college entrants.

In addition, school admission policies may be causing a self-induced decline. With the creation of new undergraduate rankings by the media, some institutions are inclined to stiffen admission policies to make themselves seem more exclusive. Coupled with this is the fact that many business schools do not control undergraduate tuitions and receive little, if any, benefit from them. The dollars are in the graduate programs, so undergraduate enrollments often have less emphasis. As an added burden, public institutions, confronted with draconian budget cuts, reduce their class sizes and offer fewer admissions to prospective students, further exacerbating the situation.

Naturally, it would be remiss to exclude our current economic problems from this discussion. It has been noted recently in books, editorial columns, and online chatter, that this latest generation, for the first time in our history, has a diminished view of its expectations. Young people now do not see themselves enjoying a quality of life better than their parents or grandparents.   Under this scenario, the 2009 and 2010 figures are just the first cannon balls shot across the bow of traditional business schools. As this generation looks out across the nihilistic landscape of modern life, it may decide to opt out of the “trickle down” economics of free market enterprise and seek a renewed interest in careers that will make us a better society, not just a rich one. Some business schools have begun to address this distinction in their programs, and as they continue to do so soon, these enrollment numbers may reverse their decline and usher in the renaissance of undergraduate business education.

 

Comments

[Eid S. Al-Shammari]

All the "theories" suggested to explain this decline indicate that the "blip" is not a field specific. It would be helpful to know if such decline occured also in other fields, say Engineering. A potential explanation is that the demand is shifing somewhere else.

[Catherine Gituku]

I was happy to have visited your web site i would be glad if i got more information on how to enroll for study and the minimum requirements for entry to take a Bachelor's study in Business.My native country is Kenya.

[nvq courses]

In response to what you said here...

"Perhaps the population of 18-24 year olds has fallen in recent years, leading to a temporary shortage, but this is belied, again, by the overall rise in college entrants"

I believe this may be part of the reason. I believe more and more youths are getting into business programs but a mild drop in populaton of that age bracket reflects on your table.