A statue of the University of Utah logo is pictured on campus in Salt Lake City on Monday, January 15, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
Utah’s college-age population is expected to decline in the coming years, which could impact enrollment and revenue at the state’s public universities, according to a new report from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.
The report, released Thursday, comes amid a 17-year stretch of growth among Utahns ages 18 to 24 years old, ramping up after 2018. From 2016 to 2022, the college-age population grew by nearly 5%.
That mostly mirrors national trends — but according to U.S. Census Bureau projections, the college-age population around the country is expected to fall by nearly 3.5 million starting in 2024, forecasted to hit a low point in 2044 which could possibly persist until 2060.
Utah’s dip is expected to be a few years behind the national decline. Growth among the college-age population will start to slow over the next few years, then decline in 2032. By 2044, those numbers could bottom out, rebounding in the years that follow.