Of the 20 colleges with the greatest number of student enrolled exclusively in distance education, 12 were for-profit institutions, five were private nonprofit, and three were public. Seven of the institutions had all of their students enrolled in distance education only, and all had at least 58 percent studying by that means.
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| 1. | U. of Phoenix-Arizona | 160,831 | 97.0% |
| 2. | Western Governors U. | 70,504 | 100.0% |
| 3. | Liberty U. | 66,300 | 82.4% |
| 4. | Grand Canyon U. | 54,118 | 77.9% |
| 5. | Southern New Hampshire U. | 53,760 | 87.7% |
| 6. | Walden U. | 52,799 | 100.0% |
| 7. | American Public U. system | 52,361 | 100.0% |
| 8. | Kaplan U. at Davenport (Iowa) | 44,223 | 97.5% |
| 9. | Excelsior College | 43,123 | 100.0% |
| 10. | Ashford U. | 42,046 | 99.0% |
| 11. | U. of Maryland University College | 41,898 | 83.4% |
| 12. | Capella U. | 34,365 | 100.0% |
| 13. | Brigham Young U.-Idaho | 25,352 | 57.9% |
| 14. | Colorado Technical U. Online | 22,757 | 100.0% |
| 15. | Columbia Southern U. | 20,823 | 100.0% |
| 16. | Chamberlain College of Nursing at Addison (Ill.) | 20,590 | 88.6% |
| 17. | Arizona State U.-Skysong | 18,797 | 92.7% |
| 18. | DeVry U. of Illinois | 18,588 | 83.5% |
| 19. | Full Sail U. | 13,077 | 65.3% |
| 20. | Thomas Edison State U. | 13,009 | 99.4% |
Note: Distance education refers to the use of one or more technologies to instruct students who are separated by distance from the instructor, and to support interaction between students and the instructor. The technologies may include the internet, closed-circuit television, and audio conferencing.
Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data