Postsecondary Institutions, Awards Conferred, and Enrollment

 

Between academic years 2024–25 and 2025–26, the total number of Title IV institutions declined by approximately 1 percent, from 5,760 to 5,711. During that period, the number of public 4-year institutions grew by roughly 2 percent (from 845 to 859), while the number of public 2-year institutions fell by about 2 percent (from 832 to 818). The National Center for Education Statistics released a new set of data and web tables that includes fully edited and imputed data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) fall 2025 collection. This collection included three survey components: Institutional Characteristics for the 2025–26 academic year, Completions covering the period July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, and 12-Month Enrollment for the 2024–25 academic year. Other findings include: During the 2025–26 academic year, there were about 5,700 Title IV institutions in the United States and other U.S. jurisdictions. Of this total, approximately 2,700 were classified as 4-year institutions, 1,400 were 2-year institutions, and the remaining 1,600 were less-than-2-year institutions.   Of the approximately 5,600 Title IV institutions in the United States in the 2025–26 academic year, about 3,800 were degree-granting institutions and 1,800 were non-degree-granting institutions. Among the degree-granting institutions, 2,500 offered associate’s degree programs, 2,400 offered bachelor’s degree programs, 1,900 offered master’s degree programs, and approximately 800 offered doctor’s degree–research/scholarship programs.   Of the 3.8 million students completing degrees or certificates at 4-year Title IV degree-granting institutions in 2024–25, about 52 percent earned a bachelor’s degree. This share differed by control of institution: approximately 55 percent of the 2.4 million students at public institutions earned a bachelor’s degree, compared with 49 percent of the 1.2 million students at private nonprofit institutions and about 37 percent of the 249,000 students at private for-profit institutions.   Across all Title IV institutions, about 5.6 million awards were conferred to students of varying races/ethnicities in 2024–25. Of the three largest race/ethnicity groups, White students were conferred the most awards (2.6 million), followed by Hispanic or Latino students (1.1 million awards), and Black or African American students (648,000 awards).   Institutions reported a 12-month unduplicated headcount of students enrolled full-time totaling approximately 14.2 million in 2024–25. Of these students, 11.9 million were full-time undergraduates and approximately 2.3 million were full-time graduate students.   Of the 22.5 million students reported in the 2024–25 12-month unduplicated undergraduate headcount enrollment, approximately 21.9 million students were enrolled at degree-granting institutions and approximately 640,000 were enrolled at non-degree-granting institutions.   Institutions reported a 12-month full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrollment of approximately 16.8 million students in 2024–25. This total included approximately 14.0 million undergraduates, approximately 2.3 million graduate students, and around 506,000 doctor’s–professional practice students.   In 2024–25, the 12-month unduplicated headcount enrollment of undergraduate students enrolled exclusively in distance education courses totaled approximately 6.2 million. Of these students, around 4.3 million attended public institutions, 1.2 million attended private nonprofit institutions, and 689,000 attended private for-profit institutions.   Of the 3.1 million high school students enrolled in college courses for credit that were included in the 2024–25 12-month unduplicated headcount enrollment of undergraduate students, approximately 1.5 million students were enrolled at 4-year institutions, around 1.5 million enrolled at 2-year institutions and approximately 10,000 were enrolled at less-than-2-year institutions.