Computer science enrollment falls 8.4% as AI spreads across the rest of campus

Undergraduate enrollment in computer and information sciences at four-year US institutions fell 8.4% in spring 2026 YoY, following a 3.6% drop in fall 2025 when graduate enrollment in the field dropped 14%. Students are not abandoning technology so much as unbundling it from the CS major. Colby College built an interdisciplinary AI institute that teaches AI outside the computer science department, pairing technical skills with other fields. "A lot of the challenges around AI go a lot further than the AI itself," said its director, a former IBM veteran who noticed even highly trained engineers struggling to adapt as technology shifted.

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