CRA: "Interest in CS as a Major Drops Among Incoming Freshmen"

According to the CRA, an analysis of results from a survey conducted by HERI/UCLA indicate that the fraction of incoming undergraduates that plan to major in CS declined by over 60 percent between the Fall of 2000 and 2004, and is now 70 percent lower than its peak in the early 1980s. Women's interest dropped 80 percent between 1998 and 2004, and 93 percent since its peak in 1982.

Results from CRA's Taulbee Survey show that the number of newly declared CS majors has declined for the past four years and is now 39 percent lower than in the Fall of 2000.

SearchCIO also discusses the issue, but stressing that the reduction may have kept less-interested students from enrolling in Computer Science.