College enrollment is falling. Here's why it could be hurting low-income families the most.

Undergraduate college and university enrollment has decreased by nearly 5% from last year for both fall and spring semesters, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

That drop is "larger than anything we have seen in years," the group's executive director Doug Shapiro warned on CBSN Monday.  As high school seniors across the country make their final decisions for college, NSCRC's research reflects that 4.4% less of them were enrolled at an undergraduate institution for the fall 2020 semester. Spring 2021 enrollment dropped 4.5% compared with the same time last year.