‘We’re certainly striving to keep our enrollment as strong as we can:’ Why colleges across the U.S. are bracing for fewer students

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Colleges and universities across the United States and in Iowa are bracing for a major drop-off in students in the coming years.

That’s as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports birthrates have fallen since the 2008 recession.

“We know there are more 18-year-olds in the United States and in Iowa now, than there will be any time in the next at least 17 years and very likely beyond that as well,” Todd Olson, president of Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, said.

Olson said this trend is something he’s been aware of for years. But after enrollment declines in recent years, he said Mount Mercy is seeing record numbers.

“This fall, we actually have brought in the largest class of new undergraduates in Mount Mercy’s history and that’s our new