News

Fastest-Growing Colleges, 2006-16

Almanac 2018

August 19, 2018

Of the 20 fastest-growing public doctoral institutions, 12 were in the Southwest or Southeast. Several institutions that appear in this table could attribute a substantial part of their growth to online education. Others, like the University of California at Merced, California State University-Channel Islands, and the Universities of Washington at Bothell and Tacoma, were founded in the past few decades in anticipation of increased demand for postsecondary education in their regions.

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Public institutions

Doctoral

Rank	Institution	Enrollment, fall 2006	Enrollment, fall 2016	Increase
1.	U. of California at Merced	1,286	7,336	470.5%
2.	Utah State U.	14,444	28,118	94.7%
3.	Arizona State U.-Downtown Phoenix	6,229	11,737	88.4%
4.	U. of Texas at Dallas	14,523	26,793	84.5%
5.	U. of Texas at Arlington	24,825	45,282	82.4%
6.	Rowan U.	9,578	17,372	81.4%
7.	Texas A&M U. at Commerce	8,471	13,514	59.5%
8.	U. of Massachusetts at Lowell	11,207	17,849	59.3%
9.	U. of Texas-Rio Grande Valley	17,337	27,560	59.0%
10.	U. of Alabama at Tuscaloosa	23,838	37,663	58.0%
11.	Oregon State U.	19,352	30,354	56.9%
12.	U. of Mississippi	15,220	23,610	55.1%
13.	U. of Arkansas at Fayetteville	17,926	27,194	51.7%
14.	City U. of New York Graduate Center*	4,869	7,378	51.5%
15.	Lamar U.	9,906	15,001	51.4%
16.	Missouri U. of Science and Technology	5,858	8,835	50.8%
17.	Georgia Institute of Technology	17,936	26,839	49.6%
18.	Northern Arizona U.	20,555	30,361	47.7%
19.	Rutgers U. at New Brunswick	34,392	50,146	45.8%
20.	Florida International U.	37,997	55,003	44.8%
	Overall for 190 institutions	4,089,842	4,728,230	15.6%

Master’s

Rank	Institution	Enrollment, fall 2006	Enrollment, fall 2016	Increase
1.	U. of Washington at Bothell	1,678	5,734	241.7%
2.	U. of Washington at Tacoma	2,292	4,987	117.6%
3.	California State U.-Channel Islands	3,123	6,611	111.7%
4.	Indiana U. East	2,246	4,479	99.4%
5.	U. of Texas of the Permian Basin	3,462	6,673	92.8%
6.	California State U.-Monterey Bay	3,818	7,274	90.5%
7.	Florida Gulf Coast U.	8,279	14,821	79.0%
8.	U. of Maryland University College	33,096	57,529	73.8%
9.	Arkansas Tech U.	7,038	11,894	69.0%
10.	Massachusetts Maritime Academy	1,045	1,751	67.6%
11.	U. of Texas at Tyler	5,926	9,835	66.0%
12.	U. of Houston-Victoria	2,653	4,384	65.3%
13.	Fort Hays State U.	9,122	14,658	60.7%
14.	Southern Arkansas U.	3,113	4,771	53.3%
15.	Angelo State U.	6,265	9,581	52.9%
16.	Savannah State U.	3,241	4,955	52.9%
17.	California State U. at San Marcos	8,734	13,144	50.5%
18.	Texas A&M International U.	4,917	7,390	50.3%
19.	Utah Valley U.	23,305	34,978	50.1%
20.	Northern State U.	2,407	3,587	49.0%
	Overall for 262 institutions	2,214,830	2,409,140	8.8%

Baccalaureate

Rank	Institution	Enrollment, fall 2006	Enrollment, fall 2016	Increase
1.	U. of Hawaii-West Oahu	866	2,939	239.4%
2.	Nevada State College	1,959	3,747	91.3%
3.	Oregon Institute of Technology	3,146	5,223	66.0%
4.	Purdue U. Northwest	3,724	6,092	63.6%
5.	Colorado Mesa U.	6,211	9,735	56.7%
6.	Wright State U. Lake Campus	864	1,336	54.6%
7.	Indiana U. at Kokomo	2,734	4,106	50.2%
8.	State U. of New York College at Farmingdale	6,256	9,235	47.6%
9.	U. of South Carolina at Beaufort	1,386	2,005	44.7%
10.	U. of Maine at Fort Kent	1,343	1,904	41.8%
11.	Valley City State U.	1,037	1,452	40.0%
12.	Granite State College	1,553	2,141	37.9%
13.	Mayville State U.	832	1,130	35.8%
14.	City U. of New York, York College	6,236	8,360	34.1%
15.	California State U. Maritime Academy	828	1,107	33.7%
16.	City U. of New York, New York City College of Technology	13,368	17,282	29.3%
17.	U. of Montana Western	1,176	1,505	28.0%
18.	U. of South Carolina-Upstate	4,608	5,821	26.3%
19.	Pennsylvania State U. at Abington	3,141	3,951	25.8%
20.	City U. of New York Medgar Evers College	5,561	6,819	22.6%
	Overall for 86 institutions	222,370	242,694	9.1%

Associate and baccalaureate/associate

Rank	Institution	Enrollment, fall 2006	Enrollment, fall 2016	Increase
1.	Delaware Technical and Community College, Terry Campus	2,744	14,479	427.7%
2.	Wichita Area Technical College	693	3,592	418.3%
3.	Northshore Technical Community College Sullivan Campus	854	3,839	349.5%
4.	Northwest Louisiana Technical College at Minden	610	1,972	223.3%
5.	Metropolitan Community College (Mo.)	5,369	15,790	194.1%
6.	Umpqua Community College	762	2,209	189.9%
7.	Blue Ridge Community and Technical College	1,953	5,598	186.6%
8.	Eastern Gateway Community College	1,601	4,527	182.8%
9.	El Camino College at Compton (Calif.)	2,750	7,492	172.4%
10.	South Louisiana Community College	2,424	6,396	163.9%
11.	Ranger College	872	2,258	158.9%
12.	Saint Louis Community College	7,438	19,052	156.1%
13.	Nunez Community College	1,064	2,586	143.1%
14.	Arkansas State U.-Newport	1,182	2,735	131.4%
15.	Kent State U.-Geauga	1,062	2,416	127.5%
16.	West Georgia Technical College-Murphy Campus	3,010	6,743	124.0%
17.	Georgia Northwestern Technical College	2,797	6,016	115.1%
18.	Sowela Technical Community College	1,535	3,241	111.1%
19.	Pennsylvania Highlands Community College	1,260	2,655	110.7%
20.	Oconee Fall Line Technical College	719	1,404	95.3%
	Overall for 952 institutions	6,266,985	6,753,327	7.8%

•••

Private nonprofit institutions

Doctoral

Rank	Institution	Enrollment, fall 2006	Enrollment, fall 2016	Increase
1.	Liberty U.	17,798	75,756	325.6%
2.	U. of the Cumberlands	1,885	7,652	305.9%
3.	Regent U.	4,080	8,389	105.6%
4.	Maryville U. of Saint Louis	3,333	6,828	104.9%
5.	Wilmington U. (Del.)	8,205	15,316	86.7%
6.	Lipscomb U.	2,565	4,632	80.6%
7.	American International College	1,957	3,377	72.6%
8.	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	3,918	6,642	69.5%
9.	Benedictine U.	3,900	5,892	51.1%
10.	Clarkson U.	2,964	4,384	47.9%
11.	Trevecca Nazarene U.	2,217	3,221	45.3%
12.	Stevens Institute of Technology	4,829	6,617	37.0%
13.	Spalding U.	1,697	2,322	36.8%
14.	Rice U.	5,024	6,855	36.5%
15.	Widener U.	4,703	6,402	36.1%
16.	Florida Institute of Technology	4,741	6,451	36.1%
17.	California Institute of Integral Studies	1,073	1,459	36.0%
18.	Carnegie Mellon U.	9,999	13,258	32.6%
19.	Columbia U.	22,317	29,372	31.6%
20.	U. of Southern California	33,389	43,871	31.4%
	Overall for 116 institutions	1,190,574	1,377,555	15.7%

Master’s

Rank	Institution	Enrollment, fall 2006	Enrollment, fall 2016	Increase
1.	Western Governors U.	6,462	84,289	1,204.4%
2.	Southern New Hampshire U.	6,305	73,177	1,060.6%
3.	Saint Joseph’s College (N.Y.)	1,310	5,119	290.8%
4.	Sage Colleges	800	2,713	239.1%
5.	Colorado Christian U.	2,166	7,032	224.7%
6.	Mid-America Christian U.	771	2,405	211.9%
7.	Bethel U. (Tenn.)	2,076	5,975	187.8%
8.	California Baptist U.	3,409	9,157	168.6%
9.	U. of New England	3,379	8,263	144.5%
10.	Concordia U. at St. Paul	2,046	4,582	124.0%
11.	King U. (Tenn.)	1,271	2,804	120.6%
12.	Concordia U. (Neb.)	1,251	2,757	120.4%
13.	Bay Path U.	1,479	3,225	118.1%
14.	Concordia U. Texas	1,267	2,711	114.0%
15.	New England College	1,308	2,781	112.6%
16.	U. of the Southwest	526	1,088	106.8%
17.	Keiser U. at Ft. Lauderdale	9,639	19,688	104.3%
18.	U. of Charleston	1,202	2,425	101.8%
19.	Anderson U. (S.C.)	1,707	3,432	101.1%
20.	Southeastern U. (Fla.)	2,901	5,804	100.1%
	Overall for 392 institutions	1,339,268	1,549,639	15.7%

Baccalaureate

Rank	Institution	Enrollment, fall 2006	Enrollment, fall 2016	Increase
1.	Ohio Christian U.	506	4,661	821.2%
2.	Everglades U. at Boca Raton (Fla.)	644	2,424	276.4%
3.	Edward Waters College	842	3,062	263.7%
4.	Brigham Young U.-Idaho	14,116	44,821	217.5%
5.	Trine U.	1,210	3,712	206.8%
6.	William Jessup U.	592	1,318	122.6%
7.	U. of Pikeville	1,098	2,365	115.4%
8.	Young Harris College	604	1,200	98.7%
9.	Midland U.	932	1,709	83.4%
10.	Brescia U.	566	1,009	78.3%
11.	Concordia College (N.Y.)	677	1,185	75.0%
12.	High Point U.	2,811	4,837	72.1%
13.	Chowan U.	893	1,534	71.8%
14.	Central Baptist College	504	827	64.1%
15.	Adrian College	1,051	1,684	60.2%
16.	William Peace U.	653	1,034	58.4%
17.	Manchester U.	1,056	1,598	51.3%
18.	Marymount California U.	652	985	51.1%
19.	Wisconsin Lutheran College	741	1,114	50.3%
20.	Benedictine College	1,553	2,312	48.9%
	Overall for 354 institutions	540,522	584,123	8.1%

Associate and baccalaureate/associate

Rank	Institution	Enrollment, fall 2006	Enrollment, fall 2016	Increase
1.	Baker College of Flint	5,776	21,210	267.2%
2.	Fisher College	1,121	2,030	81.1%
3.	Harcum College	881	1,530	73.7%
4.	Latter-Day Saints Business College	1,317	2,119	60.9%
5.	Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology	1,097	1,545	40.8%
6.	Hallmark College	752	928	23.4%
7.	U. of Northwestern Ohio	3,255	3,812	17.1%
8.	Wentworth Military Academy and Junior College	602	704	16.9%
9.	Villa Maria College of Buffalo	514	589	14.6%
10.	Mount Aloysius College	1,587	1,785	12.5%
11.	Lackawanna College	1,326	1,489	12.3%
12.	Everest U.-Tampa Campus (Fla.)	1,242	1,375	10.7%
13.	Ranken Technical College	1,657	1,791	8.1%
14.	St. Augustine College (Ill.)	1,299	1,371	5.5%
15.	Florida College	513	537	4.7%
16.	Bacone College	958	990	3.3%
17.	Dean College	1,315	1,339	1.8%
	Overall for 45 institutions	61,669	68,073	10.4%

•••

2-year and 4-year for-profit

Rank	Institution	Enrollment, fall 2006	Enrollment, fall 2016	Increase
1.	Colorado Technical U. at Colorado Springs	2,299	25,548	1,011.3%
2.	Ashford U.	3,836	41,361	978.2%
3.	Rasmussen College at St. Cloud (Minn.)	629	4,786	660.9%
4.	Grand Canyon U.†	10,297	75,834	636.5%
5.	Florida Technical College at Orlando	831	4,753	472.0%
6.	San Joaquin Valley College at Visalia (Calif.)	1,040	5,553	433.9%
7.	Stratford U.	560	2,925	422.3%
8.	Post U.	1,596	7,681	381.3%
9.	Miller-Motte Technical College at Wilmington (N.C.)	758	3,015	297.8%
10.	Full Sail U.	5,295	19,443	267.2%
11.	Pima Medical Institute at Tucson	602	2,109	250.3%
12.	Waldorf College	670	2,227	232.4%
13.	South College (Tenn.)	653	1,838	181.5%
14.	Alliant International U. at San Diego	1,545	4,003	159.1%
15.	Capella U.	17,203	37,569	118.4%
16.	Walden U.	27,412	52,565	91.8%
17.	Western Technical College main campus	570	1,082	89.8%
18.	South U. at Columbia (S.C.)	670	1,270	89.6%
19.	Florida National U. at Hialeah	1,796	3,251	81.0%
20.	LIM College	970	1,720	77.3%
	Overall for 260 institutions	480,380	551,685	14.8%

* The figure for the City University of New York Graduate Center includes enrollment at four administratively linked 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.

† Grand Canyon University converted from for-profit to nonprofit status as of July 1, 2018.

Note: Data are based on a fall head count of full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students at U.S. degree-granting institutions that were eligible for Title IV federal financial aid and that had at least 500 students in 2006. Growth at some colleges reflects an increase in the number of 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 2006 and 2016. Growth at some institutions was affected by mergers. For instance, Rutgers University at New Brunswick absorbed most units of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 2013, and Oconee Fall Line College was created through a merger of Sandersville Technical College and Heart of Georgia Technical College in 2011. Institutions are grouped by the 2015 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The classifications for two-year and four-year special-focus institutions and tribal colleges were omitted. Percentages are rounded, but institutions were ranked before rounding. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to the Almanac editor.

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

Clarification (9/10/2018, 4:30 p.m.): A footnote was added to clarify that Grand Canyon University, which is listed among for-profit institutions, converted from for-profit to nonprofit status on July 1, 2018.