Projected enrollment rates for college students and graduates are projected to stagnate or even decline by 2018, according to a recent study by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Amid calls from the Obama administration and other groups to increase the number of Americans with college degrees, these estimated growth rates, along with a growing population, are not opportune.

The NCES report released Tuesday shows the number of four-year institution enrollments in the U.S. for men will decline from 65.9 percent to 65.3 percent, while for women, the rate will decline from 68.7 percent to 68.4 percent.

The report is based on current conditions and growth rates. New policies and economic conditions could change the numbers.

Thomas Snyder, a program director for the NCES, said the report is not based on politics, but on demographics and graduation data.

“These studies have often been inaccurate in past decades because they don’t take into account other factors,” said Noel Radomski, director of the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education at the University of Wisconsin.

Traditionally, the U.S has had the largest percentage of its population receiving a college education, but that has changed in recent years.

The Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation now ranks the U.S. 10th among industrial nations.

President Barack Obama has said he wants the U.S to return to the top of the rankings, and doing so will only happen if the nation increases those with college degrees.

Closer to home, the University of Wisconsin enrollment has been steady for the past few years.

UW does not have much room to grow and there is a bottleneck for tough introductory level classes that discourages some students from choosing UW, Radomski said.

However, the rest of the UW System has seen an increase in enrollment in past years, according to Radomski.

The smaller schools are becoming more attractive because they have room to accommodate more students and more financial aid is becoming available for two-year schools.

“We know that the U.S. and Wisconsin need more college-educated workers to compete in the innovation-driven global economy,” UW System spokesperson David Giroux said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.

There are several strategies being put forward to help the UW System and the rest of the country, Giroux added.

“We need to enroll more first-generation students, students of color and others not represented in large numbers on college campuses, we must increase retention and graduation rates, we must also create more and more convenient ways for working adults to return to college and complete a four-year degree,” Giroux said.