Colleges With the Largest Enrollments

On average, public doctoral institutions had at least twice the enrollment of any other type of institution. The largest enrollment among all types of colleges was that of the for-profit University of Phoenix-Arizona, but for-profit institutions had the smallest average enrollment among all categories shown, at just over 1,100 students.

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Public doctoral institutions

Rank	Institution	Total number of students*
1.	Texas A&M U. at College Station	63,813
2.	U. of Central Florida	62,953
3.	Ohio State U.	58,663
4.	Arizona State U.	51,984
5.	U. of Texas at Austin	50,950
6.	U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities	50,678
7.	U. of Florida	50,645
8.	Michigan State U.	50,538
9.	Florida International U.	49,782
10.	Rutgers U. at New Brunswick	49,428
	Average for 192 institutions	24,432

Private nonprofit doctoral institutions

Rank	Institution	Total number of students*
1.	Liberty U.	80,494
2.	New York U.	50,027
3.	U. of Southern California	43,401
4.	Brigham Young U.	33,469
5.	Boston U.	32,158
6.	Harvard U.	29,652
7.	Columbia U.	28,086
8.	George Washington U.	26,212
9.	Drexel U.	25,595
10.	U. of Pennsylvania	24,876
	Average for 118 institutions	11,719

Public master’s institutions

Rank	Institution	Total number of students*
1.	U. of Maryland University College	50,248
2.	California State U. at Northridge	41,548
3.	California State U. at Long Beach	37,446
4.	Utah Valley U.	33,211
5.	San Jose State U.	32,773
6.	California State U. at Sacramento	30,284
7.	California State U. at Los Angeles	27,680
8.	Weber State U.	25,955
9.	Grand Valley State U.	25,325
10.	California State Polytechnic U. at Pomona	23,717
	Average for 268 institutions	9,137

Private nonprofit master’s institutions

Rank	Institution	Total number of students*
1.	Western Governors U.	70,504
2.	Southern New Hampshire U.	61,285
3.	Excelsior College	43,123
4.	National U.	17,488
5.	Keiser U. at Ft. Lauderdale	16,579
6.	Saint Leo U.	15,800
7.	Webster U.	15,256
8.	Columbia College (Mo.)	14,759
9.	Indiana Wesleyan U.	14,730
10.	Touro College (N.Y.)	13,033
	Average for 404 institutions	3,830

Private nonprofit baccalaureate institutions

Rank	Institution	Total number of students*
1.	Brigham Young U.-Idaho	43,803
2.	High Point U.	4,573
3.	Ohio Christian U.	4,290
4.	U. of Richmond	4,181
5.	Calvin College	3,990
6.	Bethune-Cookman U.	3,831
7.	Cedarville U.	3,654
8.	Bucknell U.	3,625
9.	Lewis & Clark College	3,526
10.	Trine U.	3,395
	Average for 407 institutions	1,499

Public associate and baccalaureate/associate institutions

Rank	Institution	Total number of students*
1.	Ivy Tech Community College-Central Indiana	81,668
2.	Lone Star College system	70,724
3.	Miami Dade College	62,332
4.	Houston Community College	56,522
5.	Northern Virginia Community College	52,078
6.	Tarrant County College District	51,688
7.	Valencia College	44,050
8.	Broward College	43,078
9.	Austin Community College	41,574
10.	East Los Angeles College	37,188
	Average for 987 institutions	7,085

2-year and 4-year for-profit institutions

Rank	Institution	Total number of students*
1.	U. of Phoenix-Arizona	165,743
2.	Grand Canyon U.	69,444
3.	Walden U.	52,799
4.	American Public U. system	52,361
5.	Kaplan U. at Davenport (Iowa)	45,355
6.	Ashford U.	42,452
7.	Capella U.	34,365
8.	Chamberlain College of Nursing at Addison (Ill.)	23,250
9.	Colorado Technical U. Online	22,757
10.	DeVry U. of Illinois	22,273
	Average for 1,211 institutions	1,105

* Includes full-time, part-time, graduate, and undergraduate students

Note: The categories shown are based on the 2015 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Institutions may fall into different categories than they did in a similar table in the previous year’s Almanac, which used 2010 Carnegie Classifications. The list includes only degree-granting institutions in the United States that are eligible to receive Title IV federal student aid. The category of public associate and baccalaureate/associate institutions includes those that grant primarily associate degrees but also offer bachelor’s degrees, as well as special-focus two-year institutions. The category of private nonprofit baccalaureate institutions excludes baccalaureate/associate institutions. Public baccalaureate institutions, and private nonprofit associate and baccalaureate/associate institutions are not represented in the table. Colleges vary in reporting enrollments of all units together or separately.

Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data

Colleges With the Largest Enrollments, Fall 2015