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Fastest-Growing Colleges, 2005-15

Almanac 2017
August 13, 2017

The largest growth outside the for-profit sector occurred at two private nonprofit master’s institutions that offered classes entirely or largely online: Western Governors University and Southern New Hampshire University. The third-largest increase in enrollment among public and private nonprofit institutions from 2005 to 2015 was at the University of California at Merced, which has grown more than sevenfold since its first class of undergraduate students arrived on the campus in 2005.

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The largest growth outside the for-profit sector occurred at two private nonprofit master’s institutions that offered classes entirely or largely online: Western Governors University and Southern New Hampshire University. The third-largest increase in enrollment among public and private nonprofit institutions from 2005 to 2015 was at the University of California at Merced, which has grown more than sevenfold since its first class of undergraduate students arrived on the campus in 2005.


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.


Public doctoral institutions

Rank for size of increaseInstitutionEnrollment, fall 2005Enrollment, fall 2015Increase
1. U. of California at Merced 878 6,685 661.4%
2. Utah State U. 14,458 28,622 98.0%
3. U. of Alabama at Tuscaloosa 21,793 37,098 70.2%
4. U. of Texas at Dallas 14,480 24,554 69.6%
5. U. of Massachusetts at Lowell 10,666 18,047 69.2%
6. U. of Texas-Pan American 17,048 28,584 67.7%
7. Rowan U. 9,762 16,155 65.5%
8. U. of Texas at Arlington 25,432 41,988 65.1%
9. Missouri U. of Science and Technology 5,600 8,886 58.7%
10. U. of Mississippi 14,901 23,212 55.8%
11. Northern Arizona U. 18,773 29,021 54.6%
12. Oregon State U. 19,224 29,576 53.9%
13. City U. of New York Graduate Center* 4,554 6,954 52.7%
14. U. of Arkansas at Fayetteville 17,821 26,754 50.1%
15. Texas A&M U. at Commerce 8,777 12,928 47.3%
16. Georgia Institute of Technology 17,135 25,034 46.1%
17. U. of Massachusetts at Boston 11,862 17,030 43.6%
18. Rutgers U. at New Brunswick 34,449 49,428 43.5%
19. Ohio U. 20,461 29,157 42.5%
20. Texas A&M U. at College Station 44,910 63,813 42.1%
Over all for 189 institutions 4,043,819 4,651,352 15.0%

Private nonprofit doctoral institutions

Rank for size of increaseInstitutionEnrollment, fall 2005Enrollment, fall 2015Increase
1. Liberty U. 12,458 80,494 546.1%
2. U. of the Cumberlands 1,843 6,276 240.5%
3. Maryville U. of Saint Louis 3,223 6,414 99.0%
4. American International College 1,815 3,539 95.0%
5. Wilmington U. (Del.) 7,911 15,002 89.6%
6. Lipscomb U. 2,517 4,680 85.9%
7. Regent U. 3,961 6,950 75.5%
8. Benedictine U. 3,400 5,954 75.1%
9. Worcester Polytechnic Institute 3,917 6,573 67.8%
10. California Institute of Integral Studies 1,057 1,488 40.8%
11. Florida Institute of Technology 4,745 6,631 39.8%
12. Drexel U. 18,466 25,595 38.6%
13. Stevens Institute of Technology 4,690 6,359 35.6%
14. Georgetown U. 13,652 18,459 35.2%
15. Spalding U. 1,641 2,202 34.2%
16. U. of Southern California 32,836 43,401 32.2%
17. Rice U. 5,095 6,719 31.9%
18. Carnegie Mellon U. 10,017 12,963 29.4%
19. U. of Rochester 8,588 11,105 29.3%
20. Clarkson U. 3,045 3,910 28.4%
Over all for 116 institutions 1,177,574 1,370,078 16.3%

Public master’s institutions

Rank for size of increaseInstitutionEnrollment, fall 2005Enrollment, fall 2015Increase
1. U. of Washington at Bothell 1,534 5,277 244.0%
2. California State U.-Channel Islands 2,575 6,167 139.5%
3. U. of Washington at Tacoma 2,189 4,599 110.1%
4. Florida Gulf Coast U. 7,249 14,833 104.6%
5. Indiana U. East 2,459 4,716 91.8%
6. California State U.-Monterey Bay 3,773 7,102 88.2%
7. U. of Maryland University College 27,429 50,248 83.2%
8. U. of Texas of the Permian Basin 3,406 6,077 78.4%
9. Arkansas Tech U. 6,842 12,054 76.2%
10. California State U. at San Marcos 7,502 12,793 70.5%
11. Texas A&M International U. 4,298 7,192 67.3%
12. U. of Houston-Victoria 2,491 4,152 66.7%
13. Massachusetts Maritime Academy 1,008 1,674 66.1%
14. Fort Hays State U. 9,019 14,210 57.6%
15. Savannah State U. 3,091 4,800 55.3%
16. U. of Texas at Tyler 5,777 8,785 52.1%
17. State U. of New York Maritime College 1,294 1,860 43.7%
18. Weber State U. 18,142 25,955 43.1%
19. Eastern New Mexico U. 4,033 5,725 42.0%
20. California State U. at Los Angeles 20,034 27,680 38.2%
Over all for 261 institutions 2,178,280 2,397,333 10.1%

Private nonprofit master’s institutions

Rank for size of increaseInstitutionEnrollment, fall 2005Enrollment, fall 2015Increase
1. Western Governors U. 4,715 70,504 1,395.3%
2. Southern New Hampshire U. 6,186 61,285 890.7%
3. Bethel U. (Tenn.) 1,381 5,951 330.9%
4. Saint Joseph’s College (N.Y.) 1,318 4,749 260.3%
5. Russell Sage College 838 2,897 245.7%
6. Mid-America Christian U. 743 2,540 241.9%
7. Colorado Christian U. 2,122 6,879 224.2%
8. King U. (Tenn.) 970 2,920 201.0%
9. Baker U. 916 2,689 193.6%
10. California Baptist U. 3,105 8,541 175.1%
11. U. of New England 3,312 7,794 135.3%
12. U. of Charleston 1,006 2,327 131.3%
13. Keiser U. at Ft. Lauderdale 7,371 16,579 124.9%
14. Central Methodist U., College of Graduate and Extended Studies 2,065 4,516 118.7%
15. Tiffin U. 1,605 3,496 117.8%
16. Concordia U. (Calif.) 2,092 4,505 115.3%
17. Bay Path U. 1,456 3,107 113.4%
18. Concordia U. at St. Paul 2,069 4,380 111.7%
19. Concordia U. Texas 1,211 2,559 111.3%
20. Maharishi U. of Management 741 1,530 106.5%
Over all for 387 institutions 1,292,699 1,517,989 17.4%

Public baccalaureate institutions

Rank for size of increaseInstitutionEnrollment, fall 2005Enrollment, fall 2015Increase
1. U. of Hawaii-West Oahu 858 2,692 213.8%
2. Nevada State College 1,556 3,534 127.1%
3. Purdue U. North Central 3,519 6,158 75.0%
4. Colorado Mesa U. 6,062 9,448 55.9%
5. U. of South Carolina at Beaufort 1,319 1,980 50.1%
6. City U. of New York York College 5,899 8,511 44.3%
7. Oregon Institute of Technology 3,347 4,777 42.7%
8. Granite State College 1,540 2,179 41.5%
9. Indiana U. at Kokomo 2,895 4,090 41.3%
10. City U. of New York, New York City College of Technology 12,439 17,424 40.1%
11. Valley City State U. 1,035 1,422 37.4%
12. State U. of New York College at Farmingdale 6,461 8,648 33.8%
13. U. of South Carolina-Upstate 4,484 5,996 33.7%
14. U. of Minnesota at Crookston 2,134 2,823 32.3%
15. U. of Maine at Fort Kent 1,193 1,559 30.7%
16. City U. of New York Medgar Evers College 5,211 6,765 29.8%
17. Wright State U. Lake Campus 910 1,172 28.8%
18. Pennsylvania State U. at Abington 3,142 3,966 26.2%
19. Virginia Military Institute 1,369 1,717 25.4%
20. Cal State Maritime Academy 859 1,075 25.1%
Over all for 88 institutions in category 217,946 260,247 19.4%

Private nonprofit baccalaureate institutions

Rank for size of increaseInstitutionEnrollment, fall 2005Enrollment, fall 2015Increase
1. Brigham Young U.-Idaho 13,047 43,803 235.7%
2. Everglades U. at Boca Raton (Fla.) 502 1,498 198.4%
3. Trine U. 1,172 3,395 189.7%
4. Edward Waters College 839 2,254 168.7%
5. Young Harris College 532 1,204 126.3%
6. U. of Pikeville 1,129 2,531 124.2%
7. William Jessup U. 532 1,161 118.2%
8. Chowan U. 796 1,532 92.5%
9. Concordia College (N.Y.) 649 1,156 78.1%
10. Midland U. 926 1,646 77.8%
11. Adrian College 972 1,715 76.4%
12. Wisconsin Lutheran College 691 1,188 71.9%
13. Brescia U. 621 1,060 70.7%
14. Belmont Abbey College 887 1,495 68.5%
15. High Point U. 2,753 4,573 66.1%
16. San Diego Christian College 553 916 65.6%
17. William Peace U. 668 1,038 55.4%
18. Marymount California U. 726 1,099 51.4%
19. Jarvis Christian College 572 863 50.9%
20. Concordia U. (Mich.) 600 899 49.8%
Over all for 407 institutions 556,758 609,891 9.5%

Public associate and baccalaureate/associate institutions

Rank for size of increaseInstitutionEnrollment, fall 2005Enrollment, fall 2015Increase
1. Northwest Louisiana Technical College at Minden 554 2,924 427.8%
2. Delaware Technical and Community College-Terry 2,569 13,471 424.4%
3. South Louisiana Community College 1,880 6,958 270.1%
4. South Central Louisiana Technical College-Young Memorial Campus 786 2,669 239.6%
5. Blue Ridge Community and Technical College 1,711 5,552 224.5%
6. Wichita Area Technical College 1,044 3,318 217.8%
7. Metropolitan Community College Longview (Mo.) 5,667 17,821 214.5%
8. Ranger College 756 2,063 172.9%
9. Kent State U.-Geauga (Ohio) 931 2,531 171.9%
10. Saint Louis Community College at Forest Park 7,276 18,902 159.8%
11. Bluegrass Community and Technical College 4,049 10,388 156.6%
12. West Georgia Technical College-Murphy Campus 2,888 6,431 122.7%
13. Arkansas State U.-Newport 1,217 2,651 117.8%
14. Crowder College 2,615 5,584 113.5%
15. South Texas College 16,233 34,371 111.7%
16. Sandersville Technical College 765 1,569 105.1%
17. Georgia Northwestern Technical College 2,893 5,874 103.0%
18. Harrisburg Area Community College 9,505 19,121 101.2%
19. York County Community College 874 1,758 101.1%
20. East Georgia State College 1,503 3,001 99.7%
Over all for 995 institutions 6,253,415 6,992,954 11.8%

2-year and 4-year for-profit institutions

Rank for size of increaseInstitutionEnrollment, fall 2005Enrollment, fall 2015Increase
1. Ashford U. 814 42,452 5,115%
2. Grand Canyon U. 7,969 69,444 771.4%
3. Post U. 1,101 7,429 574.8%
4. San Joaquin Valley College at Visalia 876 5,605 539.8%
5. Florida Technical College at Orlando 796 4,575 474.7%
6. Full Sail U. 4,511 20,025 343.9%
7. Miller-Motte Technical College at Wilmington (N.C.) 707 3,065 333.5%
8. Northcentral U. 2,820 11,029 291.1%
9. Colorado Technical U. Online 6,734 22,757 237.9%
10. Waldorf College 647 2,001 209.3%
11. Pima Medical Institute at Tucson 690 2,023 193.2%
12. Harrison College at Indianapolis Downtown 1,048 3,040 190.1%
13. Herzing U. at Madison (Wis.) 1,082 2,753 154.4%
14. Capella U. 13,907 34,365 147.1%
15. South College (Tenn.) 544 1,335 145.4%
16. Walden U. 22,168 52,799 138.2%
17. Art Institute of California-Hollywood 520 1,198 130.4%
18. Kaplan U. at Davenport (Iowa) 20,042 45,355 126.3%
19. Alliant International U. at San Diego 1,584 3,509 121.5%
20. ECPI College of Technology 5,301 11,735 121.4%
Over all for 1,246 institutions 661,544 1,345,559 103.4%

* The figure for the City University of New York Graduate Center includes enrollment at four administratively linked university programs: the CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies, the CUNY School of Professional Studies (including the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies), the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and Macaulay Honors College.

Note: Data are based on a fall head count of full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. The table includes only U.S. degree-granting institutions with at least 500 students in 2005. Growth at some colleges reflects a jump in online-only students. Colleges vary in whether they report enrollment of all campuses and programs together or separately; changes in reporting methods could account for part of the increases in some cases, and some fast-growing institutions may not appear on the list because they did not use the same Unit ID number to report enrollment in 2005 and 2015. Institutions are grouped by 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 category of public associate and baccalaureate/associate institutions includes public colleges that grant primarily associate degrees but also offer some bachelor’s degrees, as well as special-focus two-year institutions. Private nonprofit associate and baccalaureate/associate institutions are excluded from the table.

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

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Correction (8/24/2017, 4:24 p.m.): The original version of this table listed the outdated name of Bay Path College for Bay Path University. The table has been corrected.

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