Historical summary of faculty, enrollment, degrees conferred, and finances in degree-granting postsecondary institutions: Selected academic years, 1869-70 through 2020-21

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Table 301.20.Historical summary of faculty, enrollment, degrees conferred, and finances in degree-granting postsecondary institutions: Selected academic years, 1869-70 through 2020-21
Selected characteristic	1869- 70		1879- 80		1889- 90		1899- 1900		1909- 10		1919- 20		1929- 30		1939- 40		1949- 50		1959- 60		1969- 70		1979- 80		1989- 90		1999- 2000		2009- 10		2020- 21
1	2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		15		16		17
	Number
Total institutions¹	563		811		998		977		951		1,041		1,409		1,708		1,851		2,004		2,525		3,152		3,535		4,084		4,495		3,931
Total faculty²	5,553	³	11,522	³	15,809		23,868		36,480		48,615		82,386		146,929		246,722		380,554		450,000	⁴	675,000	⁴	824,220	⁵	1,027,830	⁵	1,439,074	⁵	1,489,415	⁵
Males	4,887	³	7,328	³	12,704	³	19,151		29,132		35,807		60,017		106,328		186,189		296,773		346,000	⁴	479,000	⁴	534,254	⁵	602,469	⁵	761,002	⁵	734,605	⁵
Females	666	³	4,194	³	3,105	³	4,717		7,348		12,808		22,369		40,601		60,533		83,781		104,000	⁴	196,000	⁴	289,966	⁵	425,361	⁵	678,072	⁵	754,810	⁵
Total fall enrollment⁶	52,286		115,817		156,756		237,592		355,213		597,880		1,100,737		1,494,203		2,444,900		3,639,847		8,004,660		11,569,899		13,538,560		14,791,224		20,313,594		19,027,410
Males	41,160	³	77,972	³	100,453	³	152,254		214,648	³	314,938		619,935		893,250		1,721,572		2,332,617		4,746,201		5,682,877		6,190,015		6,490,646		8,732,953		7,885,033
Females	11,126	³	37,845	³	56,303	³	85,338		140,565	³	282,942		480,802		600,953		723,328		1,307,230		3,258,459		5,887,022		7,348,545		8,300,578		11,580,641		11,142,377
Degrees conferred
Associate's, total	---		---		---		---		---		---		---		---		---		---		206,023		400,910		455,102		564,933		848,856		1,036,431
Males	---		---		---		---		---		---		---		---		---		---		117,432		183,737		191,195		224,721		322,747		383,029
Females	---		---		---		---		---		---		---		---		---		---		88,591		217,173		263,907		340,212		526,109		653,402
Bachelor's, total⁷	9,371		12,896		15,539		27,410		37,199		48,622		122,484		186,500		432,058		392,440		792,316		929,417		1,051,344		1,237,875		1,649,919		2,066,445
Males	7,993		10,411		12,857		22,173		28,762		31,980		73,615		109,546		328,841		254,063		451,097		473,611		491,696		530,367		706,660		860,764
Females	1,378		2,485		2,682		5,237		8,437		16,642		48,869		76,954		103,217		138,377		341,219		455,806		559,648		707,508		943,259		1,205,681
Master's, total⁸	---		879		1,015		1,583		2,113		4,279		14,969		26,731		58,183		74,435		213,589		305,196		330,152		463,185		693,313		866,894
Males	---		868		821		1,280		1,555		2,985		8,925		16,508		41,220		50,898		130,799		156,882		158,052		196,129		275,317		330,700
Females	---		11		194		303		558		1,294		6,044		10,223		16,963		23,537		82,790		148,314		172,100		267,056		417,996		536,194
Doctor's, total⁹	1		54		149		382		443		615		2,299		3,290		6,420		9,829		59,486		95,631		103,508		118,736		158,590		194,059
Males	1		51		147		359		399		522		1,946		2,861		5,804		8,801		53,792		69,526		63,963		64,930		76,610		85,367
Females	0		3		2		23		44		93		353		429		616		1,028		5,694		26,105		39,545		53,806		81,980		108,692
	In thousands of current dollars
Finances
Revenue¹⁰	---		---		---		---		$76,883		$199,922		$554,511		$715,211		$2,374,645		$5,785,537		$21,515,242		$58,519,982		$139,635,477		$282,261,456		$496,719,503		$926,439,042
Educational and general income¹¹	---		---		$21,464		$35,084		67,917		172,929		483,065		571,288		1,833,845		4,688,352		16,486,177		---		---		---		---		---
Expenditures¹²	---		---		---		---		---		---		507,142		674,688		2,245,661		5,601,376		21,043,113		56,913,588		134,655,571		237,727,015		446,478,723		655,291,718
Value of physical property	---		---		95,426		253,599		457,594		747,333		2,065,049		2,753,780	¹³	4,799,964		13,548,548		42,093,580		83,733,387		164,635,000		---		---		---
Market value of endowment funds	---		---		78,788	¹⁴	194,998	¹⁴	323,661	¹⁴	569,071	¹⁴	1,372,068	¹⁴	1,686,283	¹⁴	2,601,223	¹⁴	5,322,080	¹⁴	11,206,632		20,743,045		67,978,726		---		355,910,203		927,174,812
	In thousands of constant 2021-22 dollars¹⁵
Finances
Revenue¹⁰	---		---		---		---		---		---		$9,136,295		$14,433,444		$28,278,058		$55,530,956		$160,631,003		$212,591,268		$310,145,268		$470,221,789		$646,353,002		$992,886,102
Educational and general income¹¹	---		---		---		---		---		---		7,959,129		11,528,980		21,838,033		44,999,914		123,084,423		---		---		---		---		---
Expenditures¹²	---		---		---		---		---		---		8,355,829		13,615,662		26,742,074		53,763,335		157,106,127		206,755,563		299,084,366		396,031,481		580,977,515		702,291,258
Value of physical property	---		---		---		---		---		---		34,024,388		55,573,152	¹³	57,159,559		130,042,176		314,267,158		304,186,473		365,671,871		---		---		---
Market value of endowment funds	---		---		---		---		---		---		22,606,618	¹⁴	34,030,337	¹⁴	30,976,224	¹⁴	51,082,586	¹⁴	83,667,780		75,355,290		150,987,991		---		463,125,822		993,674,644
---Not available.
¹Prior to 1979-80, excludes branch campuses.
²Total number of different individuals (not reduced to full-time equivalent). Beginning in 1959-60, data are for the first term of the academic year.
³Estimated.
⁴Estimated number of senior instructional staff based on actual enrollment data for the designated year and enrollment/staff ratios for the prior staff survey. Excludes graduate assistants.
⁵Because of revised survey procedures, data may not be directly comparable with figures prior to 1989-90. Excludes graduate assistants.
⁶Data for 1869-70 to 1939-40 are for resident degree-credit students who enrolled at any time during the academic year.
⁷From 1869-70 to 1959-60, bachelor's degrees include degrees that were classified as first-professional prior to 2010-11, such as M.D., D.D.S., and law degrees.
⁸Figures for years prior to 1969-70 are not precisely comparable with later data.
⁹Includes Ph.D., Ed.D., and comparable degrees at the doctoral level. Includes most degrees that were classified as first-professional prior to 2010-11, such as M.D., D.D.S., and law degrees.
¹⁰Data for 1929-30 through 1989-90 are current-fund revenues only. Data for 1999-2000 include total revenues for private institutions and current-fund revenues for public institutions. Data for later years are for total revenues.
¹¹Includes revenues from student tuition payments, government appropriations, endowment income, private gifts, sponsored research funds, and other separately budgeted research and sponsored programs.
¹²Data for 1929-30 and 1939-40 include current-fund expenditures and additions to plant value. Data for 1949-50 through 1989-90 are current-fund expenditures only. Data for 1999-2000 include total expenditures for private institutions and current-fund expenditures for public institutions. Data for later years are for total expenditures.
¹³Includes unexpended plant funds.
¹⁴Book value. Includes other nonexpendable funds.
¹⁵Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index, prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis.
NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data through 1989-90 are for institutions of higher education, while later data are for degree-granting institutions. Degree-granting institutions grant associate's or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. The degree-granting classification is very similar to the earlier higher education classification, but it includes more 2-year colleges and excludes a few higher education institutions that did not grant degrees. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Biennial Survey of Education in the United States; Education Directory, Colleges and Universities; Faculty and Other Professional Staff in Institutions of Higher Education; Fall Enrollment in Colleges and Universities; Earned Degrees Conferred; Financial Statistics of Institutions of Higher Education; Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Fall Enrollment in Institutions of Higher Education," "Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred," and "Financial Statistics of Institutions of Higher Education" surveys; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Fall Enrollment Survey" (IPEDS-EF:89-99), "Fall Staff Survey" (IPEDS-S:89-99), "Finance Survey" (IPEDS-F:FY90-00), "Completions Survey" (IPEDS-C:90-00), and "Institutional Characteristics Survey" (IPEDS-IC:89-99); IPEDS Winter 2009-10 and Spring 2021, Human Resources component, Fall Staff section; IPEDS Spring 2010 and Spring 2021, Fall Enrollment component; IPEDS Fall 2010 and Fall 2021, Completions component; and IPEDS Spring 2011 and Spring 2022, Finance component. (This table was prepared May 2023.)

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