The question raised frequently in the press and around day school tables across the country has been how the recent and lingering economic crisis is affecting day school enrollments, with widespread predictions of significant enrollment decline, including in the Modern Orthodox sector.

Just-released research by Dr. Marvin Schick provides 2010-11 enrollment data for all schools outside the yeshiva world and Chassidic sectors:

While the above data provides but a snapshot of the day school enrollment situation, it indicates day school enrollment, aside from that of the Solomon Schechter schools, has remained fairly stable, despite the continued stresses of the economy.

The data shows an improvement from Dr. Schick’s 2009 data. In December of 2009, Dr. Schick collected enrollment data for 2009-10 from 120 schools with enrollment greater than 250 students from the non-Orthodox and Modern and Centrist Orthodox sectors. That data indicated across the board, total enrollment dropped an average of 3%, a rate lower than many had feared last year given the many media stories about transfers from day schools. This year’s essentially flat enrollment suggests that, on the whole, day schools have thus far weathered the economic crisis, notwithstanding the strains on both parents and scholarship budgets.