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Digest of Education Statistics
2021 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 306.50. Total fall enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by control and classification of institution, level of enrollment, and race/ethnicity or nonresident alien status of student: 2020
Level of enrollment and race/ethnicity or nonresident alien status of student Total, all insti-
tutions
Public institutions Nonprofit institutions For-profit institutions
Total 4-year 2-year Total 4-year 2-year
Total Research univer-
sity, very high1
Research univer-
sity, high2
Doctoral/ research univer-
sity3
Master's4 Bacca-
laureate5
Special
focus6
Total Research univer-
sity, very high1
Research univer-
sity, high2
Doctoral/ research univer-
sity3
Master's4 Bacca-
laureate5
Special
focus6
Total 4-year 2-year
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
  Fall enrollment
All students, total 18,915,692 13,858,079 8,755,888 3,291,432 1,460,531 378,656 2,215,779 1,322,333 87,157 5,102,191 4,085,690 4,053,188 679,771 427,069 679,827 1,348,511 558,797 359,213 32,502 971,923 836,951 134,972
White 9,768,387 7,043,166 4,631,247 1,749,204 843,298 224,912 1,157,297 611,536 45,000 2,411,919 2,317,608 2,304,214 287,684 240,596 400,964 831,472 340,490 203,008 13,394 407,613 362,116 45,497
Black 2,366,069 1,602,863 949,056 231,656 194,897 56,444 289,257 169,294 7,508 653,807 486,157 474,631 45,845 44,648 89,540 172,512 81,963 40,123 11,526 277,049 236,939 40,110
Hispanic 3,668,645 2,995,092 1,607,654 498,281 231,881 54,631 448,705 364,802 9,354 1,387,438 501,450 497,776 72,466 56,725 88,821 188,805 53,761 37,198 3,674 172,103 136,542 35,561
Asian 1,337,790 1,011,878 684,751 363,150 68,640 16,535 149,230 75,855 11,341 327,127 283,033 281,986 101,968 31,870 41,685 52,566 19,490 34,407 1,047 42,879 37,111 5,768
Pacific Islander 48,286 30,843 16,967 4,306 1,981 629 5,223 4,724 104 13,876 10,862 10,581 639 800 1,584 5,247 1,455 856 281 6,581 5,710 871
American Indian/Alaska
    Native
120,333 93,411 52,385 11,651 7,842 1,224 13,986 9,502 8,180 41,026 18,172 17,314 1,235 1,097 3,062 6,721 2,799 2,400 858 8,750 7,132 1,618
Two or more races 758,278 569,610 367,155 144,787 57,060 15,471 85,522 61,839 2,476 202,455 150,240 149,420 27,517 16,924 23,407 45,322 24,431 11,819 820 38,428 33,709 4,719
Nonresident alien7 847,904 511,216 446,673 288,397 54,932 8,810 66,559 24,781 3,194 64,543 318,168 317,266 142,417 34,409 30,764 45,866 34,408 29,402 902 18,520 17,692 828

Undergraduate
15,781,740 12,312,797 7,210,606 2,503,131 1,175,768 302,801 1,897,000 1,304,311 27,595 5,102,191 2,731,400 2,698,899 329,560 273,747 393,986 1,004,555 528,524 168,527 32,501 737,543 602,571 134,972
White 8,088,976 6,187,168 3,775,249 1,334,553 673,047 177,374 976,729 600,359 13,187 2,411,919 1,597,751 1,584,357 140,160 162,733 237,660 625,925 319,985 97,894 13,394 304,057 258,560 45,497
Black 1,982,540 1,449,892 796,085 177,640 161,655 45,644 243,865 165,778 1,503 653,807 326,467 314,941 23,102 26,292 43,878 124,644 78,268 18,757 11,526 206,181 166,071 40,110
Hispanic 3,328,677 2,824,557 1,437,119 421,900 201,213 45,993 402,133 363,231 2,649 1,387,438 360,550 356,877 42,587 35,921 58,944 148,937 51,617 18,871 3,673 143,570 108,009 35,561
Asian 1,098,822 898,587 571,460 297,724 54,384 13,071 129,849 75,047 1,385 327,127 170,504 169,457 61,066 20,567 22,700 35,928 18,057 11,139 1,047 29,731 23,963 5,768
Pacific Islander 42,205 28,891 15,015 3,455 1,625 544 4,684 4,667 40 13,876 8,056 7,775 337 544 948 4,139 1,388 419 281 5,258 4,387 871
American Indian/Alaska
    Native
106,596 85,980 44,954 8,674 6,361 991 11,800 9,353 7,775 41,026 13,437 12,579 675 702 1,704 5,195 2,548 1,755 858 7,179 5,561 1,618
Two or more races 665,627 523,294 320,839 119,600 49,331 13,229 76,583 61,335 761 202,455 111,205 110,385 17,456 11,905 15,269 36,857 23,743 5,155 820 31,128 26,409 4,719
Nonresident alien7 468,297 314,428 249,885 139,585 28,152 5,955 51,357 24,541 295 64,543 143,430 142,528 44,177 15,083 12,883 22,930 32,918 14,537 902 10,439 9,611 828

Postbaccalaureate
3,133,952 1,545,282 1,545,282 788,301 284,763 75,855 318,779 18,022 59,562 1,354,290 1,354,289 350,211 153,322 285,841 343,956 30,273 190,686 1 234,380 234,380
White 1,679,411 855,998 855,998 414,651 170,251 47,538 180,568 11,177 31,813 719,857 719,857 147,524 77,863 163,304 205,547 20,505 105,114 0 103,556 103,556
Black 383,529 152,971 152,971 54,016 33,242 10,800 45,392 3,516 6,005 159,690 159,690 22,743 18,356 45,662 47,868 3,695 21,366 0 70,868 70,868
Hispanic 339,968 170,535 170,535 76,381 30,668 8,638 46,572 1,571 6,705 140,900 140,899 29,879 20,804 29,877 39,868 2,144 18,327 1 28,533 28,533
Asian 238,968 113,291 113,291 65,426 14,256 3,464 19,381 808 9,956 112,529 112,529 40,902 11,303 18,985 16,638 1,433 23,268 0 13,148 13,148
Pacific Islander 6,081 1,952 1,952 851 356 85 539 57 64 2,806 2,806 302 256 636 1,108 67 437 0 1,323 1,323
American Indian/Alaska
    Native
13,737 7,431 7,431 2,977 1,481 233 2,186 149 405 4,735 4,735 560 395 1,358 1,526 251 645 0 1,571 1,571
Two or more races 92,651 46,316 46,316 25,187 7,729 2,242 8,939 504 1,715 39,035 39,035 10,061 5,019 8,138 8,465 688 6,664 0 7,300 7,300
Nonresident alien7 379,607 196,788 196,788 148,812 26,780 2,855 15,202 240 2,899 174,738 174,738 98,240 19,326 17,881 22,936 1,490 14,865 0 8,081 8,081
  Percentage distribution of U.S. resident students (excludes nonresident aliens)
U.S. resident
    students, total
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
White 54.1 52.8 55.7 58.2 60.0 60.8 53.8 47.1 53.6 47.9 61.5 61.7 53.5 61.3 61.8 63.8 64.9 61.6 42.4 42.8 44.2 33.9
Black 13.1 12.0 11.4 7.7 13.9 15.3 13.5 13.0 8.9 13.0 12.9 12.7 8.5 11.4 13.8 13.2 15.6 12.2 36.5 29.1 28.9 29.9
Hispanic 20.3 22.4 19.3 16.6 16.5 14.8 20.9 28.1 11.1 27.5 13.3 13.3 13.5 14.4 13.7 14.5 10.3 11.3 11.6 18.1 16.7 26.5
Asian 7.4 7.6 8.2 12.1 4.9 4.5 6.9 5.8 13.5 6.5 7.5 7.5 19.0 8.1 6.4 4.0 3.7 10.4 3.3 4.5 4.5 4.3
Pacific Islander 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.6
American Indian/Alaska
    Native
0.7 0.7 0.6 0.4 0.6 0.3 0.7 0.7 9.7 0.8 0.5 0.5 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.7 2.7 0.9 0.9 1.2
Two or more races 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.8 4.1 4.2 4.0 4.8 2.9 4.0 4.0 4.0 5.1 4.3 3.6 3.5 4.7 3.6 2.6 4.0 4.1 3.5

Undergraduate
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
White 52.8 51.6 54.2 56.5 58.6 59.8 52.9 46.9 48.3 47.9 61.7 62.0 49.1 62.9 62.4 63.8 64.6 63.6 42.4 41.8 43.6 33.9
Black 12.9 12.1 11.4 7.5 14.1 15.4 13.2 13.0 5.5 13.0 12.6 12.3 8.1 10.2 11.5 12.7 15.8 12.2 36.5 28.4 28.0 29.9
Hispanic 21.7 23.5 20.6 17.9 17.5 15.5 21.8 28.4 9.7 27.5 13.9 14.0 14.9 13.9 15.5 15.2 10.4 12.3 11.6 19.7 18.2 26.5
Asian 7.2 7.5 8.2 12.6 4.7 4.4 7.0 5.9 5.1 6.5 6.6 6.6 21.4 8.0 6.0 3.7 3.6 7.2 3.3 4.1 4.0 4.3
Pacific Islander 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.6
American Indian/Alaska
    Native
0.7 0.7 0.6 0.4 0.6 0.3 0.6 0.7 28.5 0.8 0.5 0.5 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.5 1.1 2.7 1.0 0.9 1.2
Two or more races 4.3 4.4 4.6 5.1 4.3 4.5 4.1 4.8 2.8 4.0 4.3 4.3 6.1 4.6 4.0 3.8 4.8 3.3 2.6 4.3 4.5 3.5

Postbaccalaureate
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
White 61.0 63.5 63.5 64.8 66.0 65.1 59.5 62.9 56.1 61.0 61.0 58.5 58.1 60.9 64.0 71.2 59.8 0.0 45.8 45.8
Black 13.9 11.3 11.3 8.4 12.9 14.8 15.0 19.8 10.6 13.5 13.5 9.0 13.7 17.0 14.9 12.8 12.2 0.0 31.3 31.3
Hispanic 12.3 12.6 12.6 11.9 11.9 11.8 15.3 8.8 11.8 11.9 11.9 11.9 15.5 11.1 12.4 7.4 10.4 100.0 12.6 12.6
Asian 8.7 8.4 8.4 10.2 5.5 4.7 6.4 4.5 17.6 9.5 9.5 16.2 8.4 7.1 5.2 5.0 13.2 0.0 5.8 5.8
Pacific Islander 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.6 0.6
American Indian/Alaska
    Native
0.5 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.3 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.5 0.9 0.4 0.0 0.7 0.7
Two or more races 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.9 3.0 3.1 2.9 2.8 3.0 3.3 3.3 4.0 3.7 3.0 2.6 2.4 3.8 0.0 3.2 3.2
†Not applicable.
1 Research universities with a very high level of research activity.
2 Research universities with a high level of research activity.
3 Institutions that award at least 20 research/scholarship doctor's degrees per year, but did not have a high level of research activity.
4 Institutions that award at least 50 master's degrees and fewer than 20 doctor's degrees per year.
5 Institutions that primarily emphasize undergraduate education. In addition to institutions that primarily award bachelor's degrees, also includes institutions classified as 4-year in the IPEDS system, but classified as 2-year baccalaureate/associate's colleges in the Carnegie Classification system because they primarily award associate's degrees.
6 Four-year institutions that award degrees primarily in single fields of study, such as medicine, business, fine arts, theology, and engineering.
7 Race/ethnicity not collected.
NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Relative levels of research activity for research universities were determined by an analysis of research and development expenditures, science and engineering research staffing, and doctor's degrees conferred, by field. Further information on the research index ranking may be obtained from https://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/. This table excludes 195 institutions with missing data on Carnegie classifications, with 76,106 students enrolled. 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 2021, Fall Enrollment component. (This table was prepared November 2021.)

2021 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest