New data from Wheaton’s institutional research office shows a slight decline in total enrollment over the past six academic years. According to the official dataset, total enrollment has dropped 1.55% between fall 2020 and fall 2026. Undergraduate enrollment declined 5.39%, while graduate enrollment has increased by 11.98% over the same period.
U.S. college enrollment declined from its 2010 peak of 29.51 million students to 26.63 million in 2025, according to the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. Silvio Vazquez, Wheaton’s chief enrollment management officer, oversees the enrollment division, which works with students from recruitment through admission. In an email to The Record, Vazquez wrote that Wheaton’s 2026 incoming class fell short of the 600 to 630 student goal.
“We landed with 579, which was below our target,” he said. “Unfortunately, this will have a negative impact on our budget next year and for the following three years.”…