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Enrollment by Carnegie Classification, Fall 2015

Almanac 2017 August 13, 2017

Doctoral universities and associate colleges each enroll almost a third of all students, even though doctoral universities represent only 7 percent of all institutions, while associate colleges represent nearly a quarter. Baccalaureate colleges represent 12 percent of all institutions but less than 5 percent of overall enrollment.

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Doctoral universities and associate colleges each enroll almost a third of all students, even though doctoral universities represent only 7 percent of all institutions, while associate colleges represent nearly a quarter. Baccalaureate colleges represent 12 percent of all institutions but less than 5 percent of overall enrollment.


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.


By main category

ClassificationNumber of institutionsPercent of all institutionsNumber of public institutionsNumber of private nonprofit institutionsNumber of for-profit institutionsTotal enrollmentPercent of total enrollment for all institutionsAverage enrollment per institutionAverage enrollment for public institutionsAverage enrollment for private nonprofit institutionsAverage enrollment for for-profit institutions
Doctoral universities 327 7.4% 192 118 17 6,435,097 32.4% 19,679 24,432 11,719 21,256
Master’s colleges and universities 734 16.7% 268 404 62 4,371,398 22.0% 5,956 9,137 3,830 6,057
Baccalaureate colleges 533 12.1% 88 407 38 892,351 4.5% 1,674 2,957 1,499 585
Baccalaureate/associate colleges 369 8.4% 96 54 219 980,201 4.9% 2,656 8,066 1,392 597
Associate colleges 1,065 24.2% 882 35 148 6,296,531 31.7% 5,912 7,040 507 470
Special-focus 2-year institutions 402 9.1% 9 62 331 173,515 0.9% 432 1,039 466 409
Special-focus 4-year institutions 931 21.2% 38 574 319 680,820 3.4% 731 1,913 671 699
Tribal colleges 35 0.8% 27 8 0 17,161 0.1% 490 510 423 -
All institutions 4,396 100.0% 1,600 1,662 1,134 19,847,074 100.0% 4,515 9,050 2,437 1,162

By subcategory

SubcategoryNumber of institutionsPercent of all institutionsNumber of public institutionsNumber of private nonprofit institutionsNumber of for-profit institutionsTotal enrollmentPercent of total enrollment for all institutionsAverage enrollment per institutionAverage enrollment for public institutionsAverage enrollment for private nonprofit institutionsAverage enrollment for for-profit institutions
Doctoral: highest research activity 115 2.6% 81 34 0 3,366,295 17.0% 29,272 34,043 17,905 -
Doctoral: higher research activity 104 2.4% 74 30 0 1,687,240 8.5% 16,223 18,326 11,035 -
Doctoral: moderate research activity 108 2.5% 37 54 17 1,381,562 7.0% 12,792 15,600 8,203 21,255
Master’s: larger programs 392 8.9% 162 202 28 3,294,537 16.6% 8,404 11,467 5,431 12,129
Master’s: medium programs 208 4.7% 66 124 18 734,179 3.7% 3,530 5,979 2,540 1,361
Master’s: smaller programs 134 3.0% 40 78 16 342,682 1.7% 2,557 4,908 1,729 712
Baccalaureate: arts-and-sciences focus 240 5.5% 23 216 1 389,426 2.0% 1,623 2,157 1,571 336
Baccalaureate: diverse fields 293 6.7% 65 191 37 502,925 2.5% 1,716 3,240 1,415 591
Baccalaureate/associate: mixed 227 5.2% 34 47 146 365,073 1.8% 1,608 5,872 1,521 643
Baccalaureate/associate: associate dominant 142 3.2% 62 7 73 615,128 3.1% 4,332 9,268 521 504
Associate: high transfer; high traditional students 160 3.6% 150 8 2 1,464,744 7.4% 9,155 9,733 513 279
Associate: high transfer; mixed traditional/nontraditional students 127 2.9% 125 2 0 1,279,432 6.4% 10,074 10,232 203 -
Associate: high transfer; high nontraditional students 83 1.9% 78 3 2 474,315 2.4% 5,715 6,039 999 131
Associate: mixed transfer/career and technical; high traditional students 108 2.5% 101 3 4 699,496 3.5% 6,477 6,853 1,495 699
Associate: mixed transfer/career and technical; mixed traditional/nontraditional students 99 2.3% 96 0 3 663,279 3.3% 6,700 6,861 - 1,549
Associate: mixed transfer/career and technical; high nontraditional students 129 2.9% 119 0 10 798,870 4.0% 6,193 6,697 - 197
Associate: high career and technical; high traditional students 80 1.8% 52 3 25 240,109 1.2% 3,001 4,404 338 403
Associate: high career and technical; mixed traditional/nontraditional students 112 2.5% 68 4 40 270,101 1.4% 2,412 3,644 316 525
Associate: high career and technical; high nontraditional students 167 3.8% 93 12 62 406,185 2.0% 2,432 4,027 289 454
Special-focus 2-year: health professions 241 5.5% 5 25 211 111,825 0.6% 464 632 758 425
Special-focus 2-year: technical professions 58 1.3% 1 12 45 25,812 0.1% 445 2,669 260 445
Special-focus 2-year: arts and design 41 0.9% 0 10 31 15,480 0.1% 378 - 245 420
Special-focus 2-year: other fields 62 1.4% 3 15 44 20,398 0.1% 329 1,172 289 285
Special-focus 4-year: faith-related institutions 288 6.6% 0 288 0 88,167 0.4% 306 - 306 -
Special-focus 4-year: medical schools and centers 50 1.1% 23 26 1 109,169 0.6% 2,183 2,561 1,908 632
Special-focus 4-year: other health-professions schools 237 5.4% 5 125 107 178,096 0.9% 751 904 778 712
Special-focus 4-year: engineering schools 6 0.1% 1 4 1 7,408 0.0% 1,235 3,230 904 559
Special-focus 4-year: other technology-related schools 66 1.5% 0 4 62 36,311 0.2% 550 - 3,727 345
Special-focus 4-year: business and management schools 86 2.0% 1 23 62 76,376 0.4% 888 416 1,367 717
Special-focus 4-year: arts, music, and design schools 133 3.0% 2 58 73 136,431 0.7% 1,026 1,480 1,061 985
Special-focus 4-year: law schools 33 0.8% 6 21 6 20,206 0.1% 612 442 660 614
Other special-focus institutions 32 0.7% 0 25 7 28,656 0.1% 896 - 991 553

Note: Institutions are categorized by the 2015 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, a project of Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research. Doctoral universities awarded at least 20 research/scholarship doctorates in 2013-14; professional degrees like M.D. and J.D. are excluded. Master’s institutions awarded at least 50 master’s degrees but fewer than 20 doctoral degrees in 2013-14. Larger programs awarded at least 200 degrees; medium, 100-199; smaller, 50-99. Institutions that granted fewer than 50 master’s degrees were also included in “smaller” if they offered exclusively or mostly professional/graduate degrees. Baccalaureate/associate colleges include those that offered at least one bachelor’s-degree program but conferred more than 50 percent of degrees at the associate level. Such colleges are classified as “mixed” if they conferred more than 10 percent of degrees at the baccalaureate level, and as “associate dominant” if less than 10 percent. Associate colleges are categorized on the basis of how much they focused on career and technical fields that require only an associate degree, compared with fields that require transfer to another institution for further education to obtain related employment. They are also classified by their traditional versus nontraditional student mix: the share of degree-seeking, full-time, and younger students compared with non-degree-seeking and part-time students. Tribal colleges and special-focus institutions are excluded from other categories. Branch campuses are counted separately if reported separately in the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. Enrollment averages are weighted by the number of institutions in each classification.

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

A version of this article appeared in the August 18, 2017, issue.
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