Between 2007 and 2025, births in the U.S. declined by 16%. In Colorado, they decreased about 8% during the same timeframe, according to Neal Marquez, projections demographer at the Colorado State Demography Office.
The Boulder-based Western Interstate Commission predicts a 12% decline in Colorado’s high school graduates between 2023 and 2041. A total of 60,387 Colorado students graduated in four years in the 2024-25 school year, according to state data.
Higher education officials have watched their pool of typical applicants dwindle little by little. Most have been in talks for years on how to pivot to stave off what education officials have collectively dubbed “the demographic enrollment cliff.”
In Colorado, many institutions have managed to keep a positive enrollment trajectory so far, but now they’re peering over the edge of the cliff, hoping they can incentivize enough new applicants with promises of affordability and resources.
Choose life.