Colorado College started the year without its winter start program, a product of declining demand from students wanting to take a gap semester before beginning college.
The college tried to gain interest, yet only four students opted into the now called “spring start” track for 2026, according to the admissions office.
Campus has seen a demographic decline since COVID-19 as students began to delay their entry into college. As a result, colleges admitted more students and students applied to more colleges, creating an unpredictable competitive landscape for enrollment.
Accordingly, CC adjusted to this approach, too.
“We want to make sure that those students have good robust support and experience coming in. And I think the best way to ensure that is to have a good size cohort,” Vice President of Enrollment Tony Cabasco said about why the college ultimately shelved its 2026 spring admit class. (Those four students were offered fall admission.)
Other reasons given for the decline include cost, the accessibility of travel and a shift among high school seniors in favor of a traditional college experience, he said.
Despite this trend, Director of Admission Matt Bonser said he sees value in “disrupting assumptions” about a singular pathway to college.
“One of the ways in which Colorado College wants to be known is that students can make of this place so many things,” he said. “You can really just see students light up as they understand that there are so many more opportunities than they might have realized at the beginning.”
Whether or not there will be a 2027 cohort remains to be seen.