BCCAT

The term “summer melt” denotes a phenomenon when post-secondary students who received an offer of admission and may have paid a deposit when accepting the offer, “fail to enroll at all in the fall after high school graduation”. Assessing the extent of summer melt and the success of measures to reduce it has become more relevant for jurisdictions/institutions with dwindling enrolments, especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This short report reviews factors contributing to summer melt, including different types of barriers for admitted post-secondary applicants, strategies to reduce summer melt and their success. The prospects and options of estimating summer melt at the system level in British Columbia are also discussed.