For more than a decade, computer science was considered one of higher education’s safest bets, as tech companies’ appetite for skilled coders drove a surge in student enrollment.
Now, enrollment is falling. Undergraduate enrollment in computer and information sciences at four-year institutions declined 8.4% in spring 2026 from a year earlier, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The decline followed a 3.6% drop from a year prior in fall 2025, when graduate enrollment in the field also fell 14% over the same period.
