More Students Deciding Later, Depositing at Multiple Institutions as the Higher Education Enrollment Process Shifts

Human Capital Education's 2026-2027 Admitted Student Review draws from 72,000 admitted students who submitted 420,000 applications to more than 2,000 named institutions.

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The process by which first year students choose a college, and whether they enroll at all, has shifted, according to the 2026-2027 Admitted Student Review released today by Human Capital Education. That process is becoming longer for more students, as 15 percent of students are delaying their decision until the deadline and beyond.

The annual study draws on responses from more than 70,000 students admitted to 91 participating colleges and universities during the 2026 enrollment cycle. Human Capital Education surveys the full admitted pool at each institution and includes students who enrolled, students who chose somewhere else, and those that choose to forgo college enrollment entirely.

"The students who walk away are the hardest group for any institution to learn from," said Brian Christensen, VP of Enrollment Optimization and Analytics at Human Capital Education. "Those students are also among the most valuable to institutions, because it helps leaders understand their opportunities to improve their service to students."

The research also found students are increasingly submitting deposits to multiple institutions, a controversial process that is technically at odds with their deposit commitment. Ten percent of respondents reported submitting an enrollment deposit at more than one institution, double the 5% who did so in 2024.

However, the analysis found multiple deposits and decision certainty to be independent of one another. Decision certainty, which measures student confidence in their decision, barely moved over the same period. Fifty-seven percent of students called themselves very certain about where they enrolled.

"A student with more than one deposit is a melt risk," said Ken Anselment, Sr. Director of Enrollment Strategy at Human Capital Education. "And a student who is genuinely uncertain is a retention risk. Both are problems that will keep enrollment leaders up at night, but they are very different problems that require different approaches."

Affordability remained the single most-named factor, cited by 60% of respondents among their top five influences on where to enroll. A deeper dive into the influential factors identified 17 decision factors in three categories. Just over half weigh academics, culture, and practicality in roughly equal measure, while a quarter of students heavily weight career and academic outcomes.

The 2026-2027 Admitted Student Review is available at Humancapital.com/admitted-student-data-2026.

About Human Capital Education

Human Capital Education enables colleges and universities to grow with purpose by providing the systems, expertise, data, and strategy needed to attract, enroll, and support students more effectively and efficiently. Through a combination of enrollment strategy, financial analysis, research, and technology enablement, Human Capital Education helps institutions make informed decisions and achieve sustainable outcomes. Learn more at humancapital.com.