Evidence of Pandemic Effects on Education

The impact of COVID-19 on the education sector--particularly higher education--is revealed in this post from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank. [The STL Fed blog, "On the Economy"  is frequently a useful source of just-in-time economic analysis and interpretation.] Overall enrollment in U.S. universities dropped 3% in 2020-21, a massive decline when one takes history into account. New enrollment by incoming first year students fell by a record 13.1%.As the post by Oksana Leukhina, Research Officer; and Devin Werner, Research Associate at the STL Fed, makes clear,

"The enrollment of first-time undergraduates declined because the perceived benefits from college—the hallowed “college experience” and the value of in-person learning—shrank as classes moved online, while relative college costs—expensive tuition at a time of widespread financial uncertainty—grew."

Hmmm. I can imagine the same being said about private, independent K-12 schools should the pandemic persist.