This is an explanation of the data for the individual 50 states and the District of Columbia as well as summary data for the United States.
The figures are comparable from state to state and were the latest available at press time. The time period covered by the data varies from item to item, as shown on this list. Data are for all degree-granting institutions that are eligible to receive Title IV federal financial aid unless otherwise specified.
The U.S. Education Department typically releases statistics on colleges and universities a few years after collecting the data.
Percentages are rounded and so may not add up to 100 percent. The designation “n/a” indicates the data are not available or not applicable. In some instances, U.S. totals may include data on military institutions and outlying areas that are not shown separately.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Population, age distribution, racial and ethnic distribution, educational attainment of adults, proportion who speak a language other than English at home, and poverty rate:
SOURCE: Census Bureau, American Community Survey (www.census.gov/acs)
DATE: 2011
NOTE: For “racial and ethnic distribution,” the complete names of the categories are as follows: American Indian and Alaska Native alone; Asian alone; black or African-American alone; Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander alone; Hispanic or Latino; white alone; two or more races; and race unknown. Hispanics may be of any race. For “educational attainment,” figures describe people 25 years old and older. High-school diploma recipients include those who obtained a GED or alternative credential. Figures for the “proportion who speak a language other than English at home” cover people 5 years and older. For “poverty rate,” poverty thresholds vary by family size and composition. In 2011, for example, the average threshold for a family of four was $23,021.
Per capita personal income:
SOURCE: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Economic Accounts (www.bea.gov/regional)
DATE: 2012 (estimates updated on March 27, 2013).
NOTE: Personal income includes not only monetary income from earnings, but property income (such as personal dividend, interest, and rental income), and personal current transfer receipts (such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid).
New high-school graduates and projected change in number of graduates:
SOURCE: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (knocking.wiche.edu)
DATE: 2012
New GED diploma recipients:
SOURCE: GED Testing Service, American Council on Education (www.gedtestingservice.com)
DATE: 2012
NOTE: General Educational Development credentials are high-school-equivalency certificates awarded to high-school dropouts who pass the GED test.
High-school dropout rate:
SOURCE: Census Bureau, American Community Survey (www.census.gov/acs)
DATE: 2011
NOTE: Figures describe people 16 to 19 years of age who are not enrolled in school and are not high-school graduates.
FACULTY PAY
Average pay of full-time professors:
SOURCE: U.S. Education Department (nces.ed.gov)
DATE: 2011-12
NOTE: Figures cover full-time members of the instructional staff on nine-month contracts at degree-granting institutions only. Figures do not include medical-school faculty members. The average for all faculty members includes the categories of instructors, lecturers, and faculty members without rank. Those categories are not shown separately.
STUDENT DEMOGRAPHICS
Enrollment:
SOURCE: U.S. Education Department (nces.ed.gov)
DATE: Fall 2011
NOTE: Figures show total enrollment of full- and part-time students. For-profit institutions include two- and four-year colleges and universities. Figures for some states include large numbers of students living elsewhere who enrolled in online-only courses offered by for-profit institutions based in those states—for example, at the University of Phoenix, in Arizona. Such out-of-state students are not reported separately.
Degrees awarded:
SOURCE: U.S. Education Department (nces.ed.gov)
DATE: 2010-11
NOTE: Doctorates include professional degrees such as medical and law degrees.
Residence of new students:
SOURCE: U.S. Education Department (nces.ed.gov)
DATE: Fall 2010
NOTE: Figures cover only freshmen who graduated from high school in the previous year and are from the most recent year when institutions were required to report residency data to the Education Department.
Graduation rates at 4-year institutions:
SOURCE: U.S. Education Department (nces.ed.gov)
DATE: 2011
NOTE: Figures show the proportion of first-time, full-time, degree-seeking undergraduates who entered degree-granting four-year institutions in the fall of 2005 and graduated within six years.
DIVERSITY
Number enrolled:
SOURCE: U.S. Education Department (nces.ed.gov)
DATE: Fall 2011
NOTE: Figures for American Indians include Alaska Natives. Figures for racial categories exclude people of Hispanic ethnicity, who are shown separately and may be of any race. “Foreign students” are nonresident aliens studying in the United States on a temporary basis. All proportions are based on total enrollment of undergraduate and graduate students attending full and part time. “Underrepresented minorities” are American Indian, black, and Hispanic students, who attend college at disproportionately low rates compared with the percentage of those groups in the U.S. population. “Minorities” are those groups plus Asians, Pacific Islanders, and students of two or more races. Figures for some states include large numbers of students living elsewhere who enrolled in online-only courses offered by for-profit institutions based in those states—for example, at the University of Phoenix, in Arizona. Such out-of-state students are not reported separately.
Share of enrollment:
SOURCE: U.S. Education Department (nces.ed.gov)
DATE: Fall 2011
NOTE: All proportions are based on total enrollment of undergraduate and graduate students attending full and part time. “Minorities” include students who are American Indian, Asian, black, or Hispanic. “For-profit institutions” include two- and four-year colleges and universities. Figures for some states include large numbers of students living elsewhere who enrolled in online-only courses offered by for-profit institutions based in those states—for example, at the University of Phoenix, in Arizona. Such out-of-state students are not reported separately.
Test scores:
SOURCE: ACT (www.act.org); College Board (www.collegeboard.org)
DATE: ACT, 2012; SAT, 2012
NOTE: The ACT is scored on a scale from 1 to 36. SAT scores include the critical-reading and math sections only, which together are scored on a scale of 400 to 1600.
FINANCE
Average tuition and fees:
SOURCE: U.S. Education Department (nces.ed.gov)
DATE: 2011-12
NOTE: The figures cover undergraduate charges and are weighted by full-time-equivalent undergraduate enrollment. The figures for public institutions represent charges to state residents.
State funds for higher-education operating expenses:
SOURCE: Center for the Study of Education Policy, Illinois State University (grapevine.illinoisstate.edu)
DATE: 2012-13
NOTE: Figures are estimates released in January 2013 of the one-year change from 2011-12 to 2012-13 and so do not reflect midyear budget reductions made after that date. Spending includes state tax appropriations, federal stimulus monies, and other state monies appropriated for colleges and universities, student aid, and governing and coordinating boards. A few states enact a single budget every two years.
State spending on student aid:
SOURCE: National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (www.nassgap.org)
DATE: 2011-12
NOTE: The statistics cover aid to both undergraduate and graduate students. The category “nongrant aid” includes loans, tuition waivers, work-study, loan assumption programs, and conditional grants.
Total spending on research and development by colleges and universities:
SOURCE: National Science Foundation (www.nsf.gov)
DATE: 2010-11
NOTE: Figures are based on reporting by colleges and universities of their expenditures in the natural and social sciences and in engineering.
Largest endowment:
SOURCE: National Association of College and University Business Officers (www.nacubo.org)
DATE: As of June 30, 2012
NOTE: Results are based on 831 endowments of American colleges and universities.
Top fund raisers:
SOURCE: Council for Aid to Education (www.cae.org)
DATE: 2011-12
NOTE: Figures are based on a survey of 1,027 institutions. Totals for university systems or multiple campuses were included only if data for the individual campuses making up the system were not given separately. Some institutions that might have been among the top fund raisers were omitted only because they did not participate in the survey. Rankings may be heavily influenced by the timing of fund drives, unusually large gifts, and other factors.
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Number of institutions:
SOURCE: U.S. Education Department (nces.ed.gov)
DATE: 2011
NOTE: Statistics include two- and four-year degree-granting postsecondary institutions eligible to participate in federal financial-aid programs. Public institutions include those operated by local and state governments, as well as military academies and other institutions operated by the federal government.
3 largest institutions, by enrollment:
SOURCE: U.S. Education Department (nces.ed.gov)
DATE: Fall 2011
NOTE: Figures represent the total of all full-time undergraduate and graduate students enrolled as of the institution’s official fall reporting date or as of October 15.
Institutions censured or sanctioned by the AAUP:
SOURCE: American Association of University Professors (www.aaup.org)
DATE: Action as of June 2013
NOTE: The AAUP censures the administrations of institutions that it finds have violated the standards of academic freedom and tenure it developed in 1940 with the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The standards, endorsed by more than 150 other academic organizations, seek to protect the rights of faculty members to free speech without fear of penalty, and to due process in decisions on appointment, promotion, and tenure. The association also sanctions institutions for infringements of shared governance. The six institutions that have received that sanction are identified with the word “governance.”
Institutions on NCAA probation:
SOURCE: National Collegiate Athletic Association (www.ncaa.org)
DATE: Current as of June 30, 2013
Correction (9/24/2014): All tables in the 2013 Almanac’s States section have been updated to make them more comparable to ones published in other years. The data are now limited to degree-granting institutions that are eligible to receive Title IV federal financial aid, not all higher-education institutions. Administrative offices that were inadvertently counted as institutions in the original version of the tables have been omitted from the total number of institutions in each state. Figures for tuition and fees, which had incorrectly excluded fees, now reflect both tuition and fees. The three largest institutions by enrollment give figures for full-time students in fall 2011, not an unduplicated head count of all undergraduate and graduate students enrolled over a 12-month period for 2010-11.
