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


Table 311.33. Selected statistics for degree-granting postsecondary institutions that primarily offer online programs, by control of institution and selected characteristics: Fall 2017 and 2016-17
Selected characteristic All institutions Primarily online institutions1 Other institutions1
Total Percent of all institutions Public Nonprofit For-profit Total Public Nonprofit For-profit
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Number of institutions, fall 20172 4,298 103 2.4 9 31 63 4,195 1,617 1,656 922
                     
Fall 2017 enrollment                    
                     
Total enrollment 19,765,598 823,068 4.2 75,669 270,107 477,292 18,942,530 14,484,486 3,836,370 621,674
                     
Full-time 12,077,304 428,223 3.5 19,269 158,580 250,374 11,649,081 8,308,804 2,923,706 416,571
Males 5,424,575 139,413 2.6 7,408 49,523 82,482 5,285,162 3,850,537 1,279,473 155,152
Females 6,652,729 288,810 4.3 11,861 109,057 167,892 6,363,919 4,458,267 1,644,233 261,419
Part-time 7,688,294 394,845 5.1 56,400 111,527 226,918 7,293,449 6,175,682 912,664 205,103
Males 3,143,057 145,369 4.6 25,978 44,158 75,233 2,997,688 2,593,997 347,286 56,405
Females 4,545,237 249,476 5.5 30,422 67,369 151,685 4,295,761 3,581,685 565,378 148,698
                     
Undergraduate 16,760,331 580,744 3.5 57,715 212,461 310,568 16,179,587 13,043,238 2,604,556 531,793
Full-time 10,370,665 311,200 3.0 16,421 124,013 170,766 10,059,465 7,499,634 2,175,332 384,499
Part-time 6,389,666 269,544 4.2 41,294 88,448 139,802 6,120,122 5,543,604 429,224 147,294
Postbaccalaureate 3,005,267 242,324 8.1 17,954 57,646 166,724 2,762,943 1,441,248 1,231,814 89,881
Full-time 1,706,639 117,023 6.9 2,848 34,567 79,608 1,589,616 809,170 748,374 32,072
Part-time 1,298,628 125,301 9.6 15,106 23,079 87,116 1,173,327 632,078 483,440 57,809
                     
White 10,510,784 455,265 4.3 49,940 172,455 232,870 10,055,519 7,591,295 2,229,243 234,981
Black 2,545,916 211,886 8.3 6,742 50,546 154,598 2,334,030 1,716,102 446,051 171,877
Hispanic 3,540,584 86,705 2.4 11,401 26,227 49,077 3,453,879 2,912,342 406,514 135,023
Asian 1,277,733 23,625 1.8 3,143 7,524 12,958 1,254,108 971,955 251,999 30,154
Pacific Islander 52,015 4,889 9.4 283 1,383 3,223 47,126 33,339 9,154 4,633
American Indian/Alaska Native 137,632 6,648 4.8 556 1,913 4,179 130,984 107,333 17,665 5,986
Two or more races 700,212 28,100 4.0 2,866 8,949 16,285 672,112 527,970 125,275 18,867
Nonresident alien 1,000,722 5,950 0.6 738 1,110 4,102 994,772 624,150 350,469 20,153
                     
4-year institutions 13,823,640 800,346 5.8 75,195 251,544 473,607 13,023,294 8,778,282 3,806,543 438,469
Full-time 9,849,327 408,638 4.1 19,060 140,969 248,609 9,440,689 6,291,428 2,900,227 249,034
Part-time 3,974,313 391,708 9.9 56,135 110,575 224,998 3,582,605 2,486,854 906,316 189,435
2-year institutions 5,941,958 22,722 0.4 474 18,563 3,685 5,919,236 5,706,204 29,827 183,205
Full-time 2,227,977 19,585 0.9 209 17,611 1,765 2,208,392 2,017,376 23,479 167,537
Part-time 3,713,981 3,137 0.1 265 952 1,920 3,710,844 3,688,828 6,348 15,668
                     
Earned degrees conferred, 2016-17                    
                     
Associate's 1,005,649 25,951 2.6 743 4,888 20,320 979,698 861,116 51,675 66,907
Males 394,159 10,363 2.6 448 1,772 8,143 383,796 343,868 18,184 21,744
Females 611,490 15,588 2.5 295 3,116 12,177 595,902 517,248 33,491 45,163
                     
Bachelor's 1,956,032 91,230 4.7 8,957 25,691 56,582 1,864,802 1,266,799 540,688 57,315
Males 836,045 33,607 4.0 3,793 8,941 20,873 802,438 556,029 223,546 22,863
Females 1,119,987 57,623 5.1 5,164 16,750 35,709 1,062,364 710,770 317,142 34,452
                     
Master's 804,684 62,305 7.7 4,425 15,301 42,579 742,379 369,962 345,051 27,366
Males 326,892 19,787 6.1 1,795 5,505 12,487 307,105 157,668 139,810 9,627
Females 477,792 42,518 8.9 2,630 9,796 30,092 435,274 212,294 205,241 17,739
                     
Doctor's3 181,352 4,991 2.8 48 221 4,722 176,361 91,484 81,324 3,553
Males 84,646 1,661 2.0 7 60 1,594 82,985 44,162 37,579 1,244
Females 96,706 3,330 3.4 41 161 3,128 93,376 47,322 43,745 2,309
                     
First-time students' rates
   of graduation from and retention at
   first institution attended
                   
                     
Among full-time bachelor's degree-
   seekers starting at 4-year
   institutions in 2011, percent
   earning bachelor’s degree
                   
Within 4 years after start 41.6 6.5 10.3 38.4 4.0 42.0 36.9 54.3 19.5
Within 5 years after start 56.5 10.6 19.2 43.1 8.0 57.1 55.0 64.2 24.1
Within 6 years after start 60.4 12.0 20.5 43.9 9.5 61.0 59.7 66.5 26.2
                     
Among full-time degree/certificate-
   seekers starting at 2-year
   institutions in 2014, percent
   completing credential within
   150 percent of normal time
31.6 29.8 64.8 37.1 30.6 25.1 57.3 61.2
                     
Among degree-seekers starting in
   2016, percent returning in 2017
                   
Full-time entrants 75.5 47.5 74.5 61.3 33.8 75.6 74.3 81.3 65.3
Part-time entrants 45.4 43.9 50.8 43.4 42.5 45.4 45.6 44.4 38.1
†Not applicable.
‡Reporting standards not met (too few cases for a reliable estimate).
1 Primarily online institutions have more than 90 percent of their students attending classes exclusively online. Other institutions may have some online offerings, but they are not primarily online.
2 Includes only institutions reporting enrollment data in fall 2017.
3 Includes Ph.D., Ed.D., and comparable degrees at the doctoral level, as well as such degrees as M.D., D.D.S., and law degrees that were classified as first-professional degrees prior to 2010-11.
NOTE: Degree-granting institutions grant associate’s or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Spring 2018, Fall Enrollment component; IPEDS, Fall 2017, Completions component; and IPEDS, Winter 2017-18, Graduation Rates component. (This table was prepared May 2019.)

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