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News

Colleges With the Most Students Enrolled Exclusively in Distance Education, Fall 2016

Almanac 2018 August 19, 2018

Accompanying 11 for-profit institutions among the top 20 colleges for exclusive-distance-education enrollment were six private nonprofit institutions and three public universities. Two of the public institutions served primarily in-state students, while eight of the for-profit institutions and two of the private nonprofit institutions enrolled more than 90 percent of their distance-education-only students from out of state.

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Accompanying 11 for-profit institutions among the top 20 colleges for exclusive-distance-education enrollment were six private nonprofit institutions and three public universities. Two of the public institutions served primarily in-state students, while eight of the for-profit institutions and two of the private nonprofit institutions enrolled more than 90 percent of their distance-education-only students from out of state.


Return to the Almanac home page, or go to the Profession, Students, Finance, or States section. To purchase a copy of the Almanac in print or as a downloadable interactive PDF, visit the Chronicle Store. Help guide us to give you the data you need by taking our 10-minute online Almanac survey.


RankInstitution Number Percentage
of all
students
Out of state
1. U. of Phoenix-Arizona 128,410 97.6% 94.8%
2. Western Governors U. 84,289 100.0% 93.1%
3. Southern New Hampshire U. 61,495 84.0% 91.0%
4. Liberty U. 60,850 80.3% 78.4%
5. Grand Canyon U. 58,779 77.5% 79.7%
6. Walden U. 52,565 100.0% 90.4%
7. American Public U. system 48,623 100.0% 92.5%
8. U. of Maryland University College 44,308 77.0% 15.0%
9. Excelsior College 41,658 100.0% 83.8%
10. Ashford U. 41,343 100.0% 87.5%
11. Capella U. 37,569 100.0% 95.8%
12. Kaplan U. at Davenport (Iowa) 36,835 98.2% 98.4%
13. Brigham Young U.-Idaho 25,820 57.6% 72.2%
14. Arizona State U.-Skysong 24,630 94.0% 73.8%
15. Colorado Technical U. at Colorado Springs 24,132 94.5% 92.1%
16. Chamberlain U. College of Nursing at Addison (Ill.) 22,837 89.3% 91.1%
17. Columbia Southern U. 21,442 100.0% 90.7%
18. DeVry U. of Illinois 16,461 85.1% 80.6%
19. Ultimate Medical Academy at Tampa 16,140 98.3% 88.7%
20. U. of Texas at Arlington 15,510 34.3% 24.8%

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. In this table, “number” refers to those students enrolled exclusively in distance education. The percentage of out-of-state students was calculated by dividing the number of such students into the number of students studying exclusively through distance education, minus the number of students whose location was unknown. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to the Almanac editor.

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

A version of this article appeared in the August 24, 2018, issue.
Read other items in Students: Almanac 2018.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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