Due to financial restrictions, The New School has seen a drop in enrollment across the board. 

According to Issue 39 of Institutional Research Digest: Data, Insights, and Stories, a monthly publication by the Office of Institutional Research and Decision Support (IR), TNS saw a 4% decline in student enrollment across all colleges for the fall 2024 semester.

The report, released on Aug. 21, shows a 10% decrease in the first year, a 1.5% decrease in graduate enrollment, and a 4% increase in transfer enrollment. 

Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, Dee Voss, said that one major factor that contributed to the drop in enrollment this academic year was the delay in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). On Dec. 30, the Department of Education released a new form to simplify the FAFSA application and allow more students to become eligible for financial aid. However, extensive changes such as reducing questions, calculating financial aid, and system updates led to a three-month delay in the form becoming available for students to fill out, according to CNN.

“The delay in the FAFSA meant that students had a fair amount of uncertainty, and many students ended up choosing colleges when they got the very first financial aid package, rather than waiting,” Voss said.

Voss indicated a broader trend that has driven the decline: “We’re seeing ‘non-consumption students,’ who are admitted and then choose not to attend college at all … There has been an increase of 3% in terms of high school graduates in this country. But at the same time, there has been an 8% decrease in those high school graduates choosing to go to college.” 

Renee Caballero, a first-year student at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, didn’t plan on going to college and thinks the drop in enrollment shows an overall trend of lack of interest in higher education. “I don’t think [drop in enrollment] surprises me. It’s something that’s happening in a lot of schools. It’s more of an issue with young people not wanting to go to school at all.” 

For students like Annabelle Wang, a third-year fashion design major at Parsons School of Design, the reasons for the decline are also tied to financial and institutional challenges. “[The decline] makes a lot of sense. Especially tuition rates and everything, they’ve gone up.”

TNS accepted 59% of its applicants for the current school semester. Of the more than 10,000 accepted students, only around 3,000 students enrolled for the semester. 

Zharick Alvarez Gonzalez, a first-year student at Lang, added, “I think it might be a little bit overpriced… most people that I asked why they have a problem with the school, it’s mostly the financial aspect.”