Digest of Education Statistics
2018 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 305.30. Number and percentage of degree-granting postsecondary institutions with first-year undergraduates using various selection criteria for admission, by control and level of institution: Selected years, 2000-01 through 2017-18
Selection criteria All institutions Public institutions Private institutions
Total 4-year 2-year Total 4-year 2-year Total 4-year 2-year Nonprofit For-profit
Total 4-year 2-year Total 4-year 2-year
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
  Number of institutions with first-year undergraduates
2000-01 3,717 2,034 1,683 1,647 580 1,067 2,070 1,454 616 1,383 1,247 136 687 207 480
2010-11 4,209 2,487 1,722 1,614 637 977 2,595 1,850 745 1,321 1,238 83 1,274 612 662
2015-16 4,147 2,584 1,563 1,578 669 909 2,569 1,915 654 1,400 1,298 102 1,169 617 552
2017-18 3,883 2,407 1,476 1,586 711 875 2,297 1,696 601 1,397 1,301 96 900 395 505
  Percent of institutions
Open admissions                              
2000-01 40.2 12.9 73.2 63.8 12.1 91.9 21.4 13.3 40.7 14.0 11.7 34.6 36.5 22.7 42.5
2010-11 47.2 22.5 82.9 65.6 17.6 96.9 35.8 24.2 64.6 15.4 13.0 51.8 56.9 46.9 66.2
2015-16 51.0 27.5 89.8 64.3 19.0 97.7 42.8 30.4 78.9 18.4 15.1 60.8 71.9 62.7 82.2
2017-18 51.2 26.9 90.9 64.9 23.6 98.4 41.8 28.3 80.0 18.1 14.5 66.7 78.7 73.7 82.6
                               
Some admission requirements1                              
2000-01 58.4 85.8 25.1 35.4 87.4 7.1 76.6 85.2 56.3 84.5 86.8 63.2 60.7 75.4 54.4
2010-11 52.1 76.6 16.8 34.4 82.4 3.1 63.2 74.6 34.8 84.4 86.8 48.2 41.1 49.8 33.1
2015-16 48.3 71.9 9.3 35.4 81.0 1.9 56.3 68.8 19.7 80.5 84.1 35.3 27.3 36.6 16.8
2017-18 48.3 72.8 8.3 35.1 76.4 1.6 57.3 71.3 18.0 81.5 85.2 30.2 19.9 25.3 15.6
                               
Secondary grades                              
2000-01 34.6 58.7 5.5 23.9 63.4 2.4 43.0 56.7 10.7 60.1 64.1 23.5 8.7 12.6 7.1
2010-11 33.3 54.2 3.2 27.8 67.8 1.7 36.7 49.5 5.1 66.0 68.7 26.5 6.4 10.6 2.4
2015-16 35.4 55.3 2.4 30.4 69.8 1.3 38.5 50.2 4.0 64.9 68.8 14.7 6.8 11.2 2.0
2017-18 38.0 59.7 2.5 30.9 67.2 1.4 42.8 56.5 4.2 65.1 68.7 15.6 8.3 16.5 2.0
                               
Secondary class rank                              
2000-01 13.7 24.3 1.0 10.9 30.3 0.3 16.0 21.9 2.3 23.2 25.1 5.9 1.6 2.4 1.3
2010-11 8.4 13.9 0.4 9.2 22.9 0.3 7.8 10.8 0.5 15.0 15.8 3.6 0.4 0.7 0.2
2015-16 6.0 9.5 0.3 7.8 18.2 0.1 4.9 6.4 0.6 8.8 9.3 2.0 0.3 0.3 0.4
2017-18 5.2 8.1 0.3 6.8 15.2 0.0 4.0 5.2 0.7 6.4 6.7 2.1 0.3 0.3 0.4
                               
Secondary school record                              
2000-01 45.8 70.3 16.2 29.4 72.9 5.8 58.7 69.2 34.1 73.2 75.5 52.2 29.5 30.9 29.0
2010-11 45.9 70.1 10.8 33.0 78.8 3.1 53.9 67.1 20.9 77.1 79.4 42.2 29.8 42.3 18.3
2015-16 44.0 65.9 7.8 34.0 77.9 1.8 50.1 61.7 16.2 71.7 75.4 24.5 24.3 32.9 14.7
2017-18 43.7 66.2 6.9 33.7 73.4 1.5 50.5 63.1 14.8 72.7 76.2 25.0 16.0 20.0 12.9
                               
College preparatory program                              
2000-01 15.5 27.3 1.2 16.2 44.0 1.1 14.9 20.7 1.3 22.1 24.1 4.4 0.4 0.5 0.4
2010-11 14.7 24.4 0.6 18.3 45.4 0.7 12.4 17.1 0.5 24.0 25.4 2.4 0.3 0.3 0.3
2015-16 14.7 23.3 0.5 19.3 44.4 0.8 12.0 16.0 0.2 21.9 23.6 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
2017-18 15.9 25.2 0.7 19.1 41.8 0.7 13.7 18.3 0.7 22.4 23.8 3.1 0.1 0.0 0.2
                               
Recommendations                              
2000-01 20.4 34.4 3.5 2.7 7.4 0.2 34.4 45.1 9.3 46.6 49.2 22.8 10.0 20.8 5.4
2010-11 18.1 29.2 2.1 3.3 8.3 0.1 27.2 36.3 4.7 51.6 53.3 25.3 2.0 2.0 2.1
2015-16 17.9 27.8 1.7 4.5 10.5 0.1 26.2 33.8 3.8 46.1 48.6 13.7 2.4 2.8 2.0
2017-18 18.4 28.5 1.9 4.4 9.7 0.0 28.1 36.4 4.7 44.2 46.2 16.7 3.1 4.1 2.4
                               
Demonstration of competencies2                              
2000-01 8.0 12.1 3.0 2.2 5.0 0.7 12.7 15.0 7.1 12.1 12.7 7.4 13.7 29.0 7.1
2010-11 5.8 8.0 2.5 1.8 4.6 0.0 8.2 9.2 5.8 8.9 8.8 9.6 7.6 10.1 5.3
2015-16 4.1 5.7 1.3 1.6 3.9 0.0 5.6 6.4 3.2 7.6 7.8 5.9 3.1 3.4 2.7
2017-18 4.2 6.0 1.3 1.5 3.2 0.0 6.1 7.2 3.2 7.6 7.8 5.2 3.9 5.3 2.8
                               
Test scores3                              
2000-01 47.2 72.5 16.7 33.2 83.4 5.8 58.5 68.2 35.6 70.3 73.4 41.9 34.6 36.7 33.8
2010-11 37.6 55.1 12.2 30.5 74.1 2.0 42.0 48.6 25.5 63.5 66.0 26.5 19.6 13.4 25.4
2015-16 34.3 51.0 6.7 32.4 74.7 1.3 35.5 42.7 14.2 56.5 58.9 25.5 10.3 8.6 12.1
2017-18 34.5 51.8 6.3 31.5 68.6 1.3 36.7 44.8 13.6 52.1 54.7 17.7 12.7 12.4 12.9
                               
TOEFL4                              
2000-01 43.4 71.2 9.9 30.2 77.4 4.6 54.0 68.7 19.2 66.2 70.1 30.9 29.3 60.4 15.8
2010-11 38.7 61.9 5.1 29.9 71.6 2.7 44.2 58.6 8.3 66.3 69.1 25.3 21.2 37.4 6.2
2015-16 35.7 55.7 2.8 30.1 69.2 1.3 39.2 50.9 4.7 59.6 63.5 10.8 14.6 24.5 3.6
2017-18 34.3 54.4 1.6 29.5 64.4 1.1 37.7 50.2 2.2 59.4 63.0 10.4 3.9 8.1 0.6
                               
No admission requirements, only
recommendations for admission
                             
2000-01 1.4 1.2 1.7 0.8 0.5 0.9 1.9 1.5 2.9 1.5 1.4 2.2 2.8 1.9 3.1
2010-11 0.6 0.9 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.2 0.7 0.2 0.2 0.0 2.0 3.3 0.8
2015-16 0.7 0.6 0.8 0.3 0.0 0.4 0.9 0.8 1.4 1.1 0.8 3.9 0.8 0.6 0.9
2017-18 0.5 0.3 0.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.8 0.4 2.0 0.4 0.2 3.1 1.4 1.0 1.8
1 Many institutions have more than one admission requirement.
2 Formal demonstration of competencies (e.g., portfolios, certificates of mastery, assessment instruments).
3 Includes SAT, ACT, or other admission tests.
4 Test of English as a Foreign Language.
NOTE: Degree-granting institutions grant associate’s or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. Excludes institutions not enrolling any first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall 2000 and Fall 2010, Institutional Characteristics component; and Winter 2015-16 and 2017-18, Admissions component. (This table was prepared April 2019.)

2018 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest