An enrollment plummet in the state’s higher education system is yet another unfortunate consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.

Enrollment at Pennsylvania state colleges has dropped to its lowest point in more than three decades.

While this overall drop continued a 12-year enrollment decline, it’s the highest percentage of students lost in more than 20 years.

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education figures indicate loss of another 5,000-plus students this fall, dropping the universities’ total enrollment below 89,000 students — a level not seen in more than three decades, dating nearly to its founding.

State System Chancellor Dan Greenstein said the declines seen across most of the schools were caused by pandemic-related reasons that have impacted schools nationally.

Forbes reported that college enrollment nationwide fell to 16.9 million students last spring, down more than 600,000. The 3.5% drop was the largest spring semester enrollment decrease since 2011.

Greenstein said the drop likely stems from the pandemic finally catching up with the system, which had avoided the declines other institutions saw last year. He said anecdotal accounts point to the pandemic’s impact on family incomes and students taking advantage of $15 and $20 an hour wages some firms are offering.

Greenstein said the economic toll on families’ incomes also could have contributed to the enrollment decline. He said it isn’t clear if the upcoming consolidation of six of its the state system’s universities had an impact.

System officials earlier warned state lawmakers and others that the 2021-22 year would be a “very challenging” one for enrollment, citing factors such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Greenstein said it isn’t clear what effect plans to consolidate six of the universities into two had on enrollment.

But the drop is another sign that our nation’s colleges and universities desperately need to reinvent themselves.

That’s been apparent for years now, but the problem has become especially acute during the financial crunch created during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s become obvious that many of our postsecondary institutions are no longer adequately serving the needs of our young people. They’ve become administratively bloated and obscenely overpriced.

In recent decades, students across the nation have left college with mountains of debt and degrees that do not guarantee them good jobs.

Given that background, it’s not surprising that many colleges find enrollment dropping.

— JGG