As enrollments at American colleges continue to soar, vaulting past the 17 million mark in fall 2002, students grow ever more likely to be black or Hispanic and female and to attend community colleges or for-profit institutions, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Education Department.
As enrollments at American colleges continue to soar, vaulting past the 17 million mark in fall 2002, students grow ever more likely to be black or Hispanic and female and to attend community colleges or for-profit institutions, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Education Department.
The department on Thursday released a report, "Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2002 and Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2002," which provides the latest available look at who students are and where they're going. The last comparable report looked at enrollments two years earlier.
Over all, the latest statistics show that colleges that qualify to award federal financial aid enrolled 17,288,483 students in fall 2002, up from 15,924,028 in fall 2000. That's an increase of 1,364,455, or 8.6 percent.
Just over 17 million of those students were at colleges in the contiguous United States -- the rest were at institutions in U.S. territories. Of those 17 million:
- About 6.6 million, or 39.0 percent, attended two-year colleges, up from 6.1 million (or 38.6 percent) in fall 2000. The proportion of students attending four-year colleges declined from 59.6 to 59.2 percent.
- Nearly 12.9 million of the students, or 75.6 percent, attended public institutions and 3.3 million attended private nonprofit institutions. While they represented a small fraction of all students, the number of students attending for-profit institutions grew to about 850,000 (or 5 percent), up from about 673,000 (4.3 percent) in 2000.
- The proportion of students who are male continued to shrink, dropping from 43.7 percent in 2000 to 43.1 percent in 2002.
- The proportion of students who are black and Hispanic continued to grow, while the proportion of white students declined and the proportion of Asian students held steady.
One slightly surprising statistic: the proportion of full-time students increased between 2000 and 2002, climbing from 59.2 percent to 60.3 percent.
Number of students, 2002 | % of total, 2002 | Number of students, 2000 | % of total, 2000 | |
Total enrollment | 17,035,027 | 100.0 | 15,924,028 | 100.0 |
Type of institution | ||||
4-year | 10,083,252 | 59.2 | 9,365,805 | 59.6 |
2-year | 6,640,516 | 39.0 | 6,061,897 | 38.6 |
Less than 2 year | 311,259 | 1.8 | 273,707 | 1.7 |
Public | 12,883,071 | 75.6 | 11,891,450 | 75.7 |
Private nonprofit | 3,299,094 | 19.4 | 3,137,108 | 20.0 |
For-profit | 852,862 | 5.0 | 672,851 | 4.3 |
Type of student | ||||
Full-time | 10,272,756 | 60.3 | 9,292,349 | 59.2 |
Part-time | 6,762,271 | 39.7 | 6,409,060 | 40.8 |
Men | 7,344,936 | 43.1 | 6,859,383 | 43.7 |
Women | 9,690,091 | 56.9 | 8,842,026 | 56.3 |
White | 10,593,759 | 62.2 | 10,086,012 | 64.2 |
Black | 1,950,905 | 11.5 | 1,726,907 | 11.0 |
Hispanic | 1,624,726 | 9.5 | 1,436,317 | 9.1 |
Asian/Pacific Islander | 999,739 | 5.9 | 922,445 | 5.9 |
American Indian | 160,406 | 0.9 | 147,178 | 0.9 |
Race unknown | 1,111,747 | 6.5 | 848,741 | 5.4 |
Nonresident alien | 593,745 | 3.5 | 533,809 | 3.4 |
Source: U.S. Education Department
Read more by
Inside Higher Ed Careers
Hiring? Post A Job Today!
Browse Faculty Jobs
Browse Administrative Jobs
Browse Executive Administration Jobs
We are retiring comments and introducing Letters to the Editor. Share your thoughts »
Today’s News from Inside Higher Ed
Inside Higher Ed’s Quick Takes
Popular Right Now
Changes in SAT prompt discussion of future of the College Board
Biden's free college plan would increase enrollment at public colleges but hurt privates
Education Department staff recommends end to ACICS recognition
Higher Education Events Calendar & People
Holy Names University offers two free courses for parents of current students
Colgate experiences a surge in applications
Colleges should do much more to support students who have been in foster care (opinion)
Biden orders more guidance on college reopening decisions
Advice for students so they don't sound silly in emails (essay)
Expand commentsHide comments