June 2026, Eye on Research
Commentary
June arrives with the particular quiet that follows commencement—the campus exhale before summer sessions, orientation cycles and fall planning once again fill the calendar. It seems a fitting moment to share that Eye on Research will be taking its own brief pause—there will be no July edition. We will rejoin you in August as the new fall semester begins and the rhythm of the academic year picks back up.
Until then, the blog archive remains available, if you want to catch up on recent research. My inbox also stays open if you have any questions about our existing research or an idea you want to see covered in future AACRAO research. Contact me at wendyk@aacrao.org.
Wishing you a restful, enjoyable remainder of the summer. We’ll see you in August.
AACRAO Research Updates
Chief Enrollment Management Officer Career Profile
On July 6, 2026, we will deploy the Chief Enrollment Management Officer (CEMO) Career Profile survey. This will be the fourth iteration of this career profile series for the CEMO position. If you hold the CEMO position, please keep an eye on your inbox for this survey. We welcome and appreciate your participation.
We have been deploying this survey every 3 years since 2017. Moving forward, we will repeat the survey every 5 years.
AACRAO Publications Refresh
We are using AACRAO research and subject-matter experts to update three publications this calendar year: the registrar’s guide, the records-management book and the academic records and transcript book. All three will be released in time for our annual meeting in 2027.
Call to Participate
Learner Stop-Out Experiences and Administrative Barriers at Public Research Universities
I am a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education Leadership and Policy Program at The University of Texas at Austin and Executive Dean of Enrollment & Records at Austin Community College District. My dissertation research explores how administrative barriers may influence undergraduate learners’ decisions to stop out of college temporarily.
I am seeking participants who:
- attended a 4-year public R1 university in the Southern region of the United States
- completed at least one academic year
- temporarily stopped attending for at least one semester within the past 2 years
- identify as 1st generation OR lower-income OR minoritizd first-generation
- experienced an administrative barrier, such as financial holds, registration issues, deadlines, residency concerns or similar institutional processes
The University of Texas at Austin Institutional Review Board has approved this study (IRB #00009267). Participation is voluntary and consists of a virtual interview lasting approximately 60–75 minutes. Participants who complete the interview will receive a $25 Visa e-gift card. All responses will be kept confidential.
If you know learners who may meet the study criteria or if you work with populations who have experienced stop-out, I would greatly appreciate your assistance in sharing this opportunity. Please feel free to distribute the study information within your professional networks or to connect me with colleagues who may be able to assist with recruitment. Individuals interested in participating may contact me at bethanydbell@gmail.com or complete the interest form at https://forms.office.com/r/MPXmW2qEfF.
Thank you for supporting this research and helping amplify learner voices and experiences that can inform institutional policy and practice.
Best,
Bethany Bell
Current Higher-Education Research and Related Topics
Enrolled but Not Protected: Young Learner Parents Still Face Eviction
A New America analysis by Richard Davis Jr. and Nick Graetz is the first in a two-part series with Princeton’s Eviction Lab. It examines how often young parents who are learners face eviction filings compared to nonlearner parents of the same age. It draws on a dataset linking 73.2 million eviction-case defendants from 2000 to 2018 to census records. The expectation was that college enrollment shields young parents from eviction, but the data show protection mostly vanishes once young children are involved.
- About 20% of parent learners, aged 18 to 24, with young children face an eviction filing each year. This is only slightly below the roughly 25% of nonlearner parents the same age.
- Enrollment seems to help 18-to-24-year-olds without young children; they face eviction at 50% of the rate of nonlearners. That buffer nearly disappears for those with children under 5.
- Analysis ties this to aid that hasn’t kept pace. Undergraduate loan limits haven’t risen since 2008 and have lost over 20% of their real value. Changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act make federal loans harder for part-time learners to get.
- Institutions can connect learner parents to legal aid; a 2018 Minnesota study found represented tenants won or favorably settled 96% of eviction cases versus 62% without representation.
Federal Cuts Could Deepen the Food Gap for Pell Recipients
An Institute for Higher Education Policy analysis, by Thuong Tran and Marián Vargas, examines food insecurity, persistence and attainment among Pell Grant recipients using the 2020/22 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS). It ties gaps to two looming federal threats: SNAP cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and a Pell Grant shortfall. The core message is that federal aid is essential but already insufficient. Further cuts would hit the most financially squeezed learners the hardest.
- 42% of Pell recipients experience food insecurity, nearly twice the rate of learners without a Pell Grant.
- 65% of Pell recipients persist or earn a credential within 3 years, compared to 76% of nonrecipients.
- American Indian/Alaska Native, Black and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Pell recipients had the lowest persistence and attainment rates, ranging from 47 to 59%. Asian American learners had the highest at 74%.
- There is a call for Congress to restore SNAP funding, close the projected $16.9 billion Pell shortfall and move Pell to full mandatory funding.
- Canceling the BPS data contract would erase the evidence base for tracking these trends among Pell Grant recipients.
A Freshman and a Junior at the Same Time
This research brief from the Helios Education Foundation and Florida State University’s Anne’s College examines how learners view the move to campus when they arrive with advanced college credit. The team interviewed 89 accelerated learners and six administrators across four Florida public universities: FAMU, FSU, FIU, and USF.
Most prior research tracked enrollment and completion rates; this study focuses on learner voices after they enroll. Colleges nationwide will face the same questions as these pathways continue to grow.
- Learners who enter as first-time freshmen while holding sophomore- or junior-level credits compress their timelines, which leaves less time to explore majors, complete internships or settle into campus life.
- Most felt academically ready; some found college coursework easier than in high school. However, they struggled to navigate advising and to understand how their credits applied, or transferred, to a degree.
- Institutions are encouraged to strengthen advising, clarify credit and degree planning, and support belonging and transition for this group.
- Accelerated learners are framed as a distinct population whose needs differ from those of traditional first-year learners.
Spring 2026 Enrollment Keeps Climbing
A recent report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center tracked postsecondary enrollment for spring 2026 and found it grew for the second term in a row. Total enrollment hit 18.6 million learners, up 1% from a year earlier. Public institutions drove most of the gains, but the numbers look different when you examine the sector and field.
- Community colleges grew by 3.1%, and public 4-year schools grew by 1.5%.
- Private nonprofit and for-profit 4-year enrollment remained flat.
- Hispanic, Black and multiracial learners posted large enrollment gains at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
- Graduate international enrollment fell 4.3%, with the steepest drop at public 4-year institutions.
- Health-professions enrollment rose for the third year, while computer and information sciences dropped sharply, down 8.4% at 4-year schools.
Where College Degrees Land Across U.S. Religions*
Pew Research Center used its 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study to compare college-completion rates across religious groups. The survey covered 36,908 adults, allowing researchers to break down results by specific denominations rather than broad traditions. There were wide gaps among groups.
- About 70% of Hindus and 65% of Jews hold at least a bachelor’s degree, well above the national average of 35%.
- Evangelical Protestants (29%) and members of historically Black Protestant churches (24%) sit at the lower end.
- Among the religiously unaffiliated, atheists (48%) and agnostics (53%) beat the national average (35%), but those who pick “nothing in particular” fall below it (29%).
- Catholics overall match the national average at 35%.
*This study was published in February, but it is the first time it has been summarized in this blog.
First-Gen Learners are a Shrinking Share of Campus
Using federal student aid and census data over a 24-year period, this Pell Institute brief by Sean Simone tracks how many in the U.S. college population are first-generation. The headline finding is a drop in that share; the brief explores why it happened, rather than just flagging the number. The takeaway is encouraging but complicated beneath the surface.
- The first-generation share of enrolled learners fell from 66% in 1996 to 53% in 2020.
- Over the same period, the share of adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree rose from 24 to 38%, shrinking the pool of learners who qualify as first generation.
- Data points to two drivers: schools may enroll fewer first-generation learners and the first-generation population is shrinking as more parents finish college.
- Even with the national gains, first-generation learners still hit real walls around cost, access and basic information about how college works.
Teens Are Giving Up on the Bachelor’s Degree
This Pell Institute brief by Sean Simone and Elise Christopher looks at whether high-school learners still expect to earn a 4-year degree. Research draws on federal longitudinal surveys spanning two decades. Numbers fell across the board, especially for learners who already face the most barriers.
- The share of high-school learners expecting to earn a bachelor’s degree dropped from 72% in 2002 to 44% in 2022.
- For first-generation learners, expectations sank from 60% to 33%.
- Learners with a college-educated parent fell from 83% to 53%.
- The federal NCES longitudinal surveys behind this analysis have been discontinued, so tracking these trends going forward will be more difficult.
Yale Asks Why People Stopped Trusting Colleges
A report from a 10-member Yale faculty committee, chaired by Julia Adams and Beverly Gage, has been published. The committee spent a year studying why public trust in higher education has fallen and what Yale can do about it. They grounded the work in polling and scholarship, then talked with learners, staff, alumni, critics, journalists and peer institutions. The report focuses on Yale but recommendations may apply to other areas of higher education.
- Confidence in higher education dropped from 57% a decade ago to 36% in 2024; 70% of Americans say the higher education system is headed the wrong way.
- The committee pins distrust on three things: soaring cost, questions about who gets admitted and why, and fights over speech, politics and self-censorship on campus.
- Yale’s tuition runs $69,900 this year (2025-2026), with total cost of attendance for the year estimated at $94,425.
- The “high tuition/high aid” model that lowers the real price for many learners makes pricing feel secretive and unpredictable.
- The faculty committee believes that trying to be all things to all people, selective yet inclusive, affordable yet luxurious, has blurred the university’s purpose and fed the distrust.
What Admitted Students Want in 2026
Hanover Research surveyed close to 1,000 learners admitted to U.S. colleges in spring 2026 to figure out what shapes their enrollment choices for the 2026 to 2027 year. The big takeaway is that getting more applications doesn’t guarantee more learners, so schools need to understand what actually leads to a positive outcome. Money and how learners feel about a school’s future now carry real weight in those decisions.
- Cost and financial aid competitiveness move enrollment outcomes more than almost any other factor, and financial worries push more students to decline or defer their offers.
- Nearly a quarter of admitted learners look at how financially stable an institution is before they even decide where to apply.
- Learners believe slightly more strongly in the value of a degree in 2026 (73%) as opposed to 2025 (70%), and their likelihood of enrolling held steady.
- AI tools are now part of how students search for and apply to colleges, which matters for any school thinking about its digital outreach.
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