In recent years，the number of applicants for college entrance examinations has kept decreasing and the underlying causes of the abandoning of sitting such examinations by graduates of senior high schools have become a public hot issue. This article provides a realistic description of the current situation of the reduction of the number of applicants for college entrance examinations，and makes an in-depth analysis of the underlying causes and their likely repercussions. Countermeasures are suggested to cope with this unfavorable situation as an input to further inquiries about how to carry on in-depth reform in higher education.