• Reference

IPEDS defines a postsecondary institution as an organization that is open to the public and whose primary mission is to provide education and/or training beyond the high school level. In 1997-98, 9,632 institutions that fit this definition constituted the IPEDS universe (table 1). Each year a concerted effort is made to identify any postsecondary institutions that might have opened during the year as well as to identify those that closed. That effort includes contacting state IPEDS coordinators about new institutions in their states and scrutinizing lists of postsecondary institutions to identify any that are not already in the IPEDS universe. It may be, however, that there are more postsecondary institutions in the nation than the 9,632 institutions IPEDS has identified. An area search conducted during the 1995-96 academic year indicated that IPEDS may be underestimating the postsecondary institutional universe by as much as 13 percent (Jan Plotczyk, U.S. Census Bureau—unpublished correspondence 1997).

IPEDS sorts the over 9,600 postsecondary institutions in the nation into several classes for descriptive purposes as well as for data collection purposes. One of the first considerations in classifying a postsecondary institution is whether or not the institution is eligible to participate in the Title IV federal student financial aid programs, such as Pell Grants or Stafford Loans. As table 1 indicates, over two-thirds (6,808, or 71 percent) of all postsecondary institutions in IPEDS were eligible to participate in Title IV programs in 1997-98.*

A second consideration in classifying institutions is the institution's degree-granting status. Institutions are considered as degree granting if they awarded at least one associate's or higher degree in the previous academic year (1996-97). As table 1 indicates, fewer than half of the postsecondary institutions in the 1997-98 IPEDS universe (4,495, or 47 percent) granted a degree in 1996-97. Table 1 also indicates that more than 90 percent of the degree-granting institutions in IPEDS participated in Title IV programs, but about half (53 percent) of the non-degree-granting institutions participated in Title IV programs. The 4,096 institutions that are eligible for Title IV programs and that grant degrees constitute the current universe of higher education institutions.

When postsecondary institutions are further classified by highest level of offering and control, some additional findings emerge. Forty-seven percent of all postsecondary institutions in the country are operated on a for-profit basis; 29 percent are private, non-profit institutions; and 23 percent are public. Among for-profit institutions, 57 percent participated in Title IV programs; 73 percent of the private, non-profit institutions participated in Title IV programs; and all but 80 (i.e., all but 4 percent) of the public postsecondary institutions participated in Title IV programs. On the other hand, 70 percent (1,988 institutions) of all institutions that were not eligible for Title IV participation were for-profit institutions. Among degree-granting institutions, 84 percent of non-eligible institutions were private, non-profit institutions.

About 3 in 10 postsecondary institutions in the nation offer a program of 4 years or longer. More than half the postsecondary institutions in the country (56 percent) have relatively short programs of 2 years or less (table 1). The distribution of Title IV eligible institutions by length of longest program is quite similar to that of all postsecondary institutions in the nation except that a smaller percentage of the eligible schools have only very short programs of less than 1 year. Among eligible degree-granting institutions, 43 percent do not grant bachelor's degrees, and among all non-degree-granting institutions, 21 percent have programs longer than 2 years (table 1).

Table 1—Number of postsecondary institutions, by Title IV eligibility and control of institution, and by degree-granting status and highest level of offering: 50 states and the District of Columbia, academic year 1997-98

Tables 2 and 3 in conjunction with table 1 demonstrate that many postsecondary institutions offer several levels of degrees or awards. For example, table 1 indicates that for 1,378 institutions, an associate's degree is their highest level of offering. Tables 2 and 3 indicate that 2,718 Title IV eligible institutions in the nation offer an associate's degree, suggesting that about 1,300 institutions that offer an associate's degree also offer a higher level of degree or other formal award.

Most public institutions (73 percent) are under some level of state control (table 4). However, 29 percent of all Title IV eligible public institutions (table 4) and 19 percent of eligible degree-granting public institutions (table 5) are also under some level of local control (school district, township, county, or city). Indeed, among those eligible public institutions that offer an associate's degree (i.e., 2-but-less-than-4-year institutions), 29 percent are under some level of local control (table 5), and the majority (69 percent) of less-than-2-year public institutions are under some level of local control (table 4). Eligible non-profit institutions are split pretty evenly among those that are independent (have no religious affiliation) and those that have a religious affiliation (table 4). Among eligible 4-year and higher non-profit institutions, the majority have some religious affiliation, as do the majority of degree-granting eligible non-profit institutions (tables 4 and 5).

Table 2—Number of Title IV eligible postsecondary institutions, by control, offering each level of degree or award: 50 states and the District of Columbia, academic year 1997-98

Table 3—Number of Title IV eligible degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by control, offering each level of degree: 50 states and the District of Columbia, academic year 1997-98

The mix of postsecondary institutions by level and control in the states (tables 6 and 7) is quite variable but does not necessarily reflect the distribution of enrollments or resources. For example, in Tennessee about half of all higher education institutions are private 4-year schools, 12 percent are public 4-year schools, and 17 percent are public 2-year schools (derived from table 7). In terms of enrollment, however, 47 percent of all students attending higher education institutions in Tennessee are enrolled in public 4-year institutions, 32 percent are enrolled in public 2-year institutions, and 20 percent are enrolled in private 4-year institutions (Barbett 1998, table B23).

Table 4—Number of Title IV eligible postsecondary institutions, by level and control or affiliation of institution: 50 states and the District of Columbia, academic year 1997-98

Table 5—Number of Title IV eligible degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by level and control or affiliation of institution: 50 states and the District of Columbia, academic year 1997-98

Table 6—Number of Title IV eligible postsecondary institutions, by level and control of institution and by state: Academic year 1997-98

Table 7—Number of Title IV eligible degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by level and control of institution, and by state: Academic year 1997-98

In addition to offering postsecondary instructional services to students, many postsecondary institutions provide other types of services to students as well, such as remedial instruction, employment counseling, and even on-campus day care for children of students. The most prevalent of the services listed in tables 8 and 9 is academic and career counseling services (84 percent of all Title IV eligible institutions), followed by placement services for program completers (table 8). More than half (57 percent) of all eligible postsecondary institutions (table 8) and over three-fourths of all higher education institutions (table 9) provide remedial instructional services to their students. Indeed, except for private, for-profit 2- and less-than-2-year institutions, more than half of the eligible institutions in each of the institutional sectors provide remedial instructional services, with 84 percent of public 4-year and over 96 percent of public 2-year institutions leading the way. In general, public 2- and 4-year institutions are more likely to provide each of the services listed in tables 8 and 9 than are other postsecondary institutional sectors.

Table 8—Number and percentage of Title IV eligible postsecondary institutions offering selected student services, by level and control of institution: 50 states and the District of Columbia, academic year 1997-98

Table 9—Number and percentage of Title IV eligible degree-granting postsecondary institutions offering selected student services, by level and control of institution: 50 states and the District of Columbia, academic year 1997-98

The median and mean charges of Title IV eligible postsecondary institutions for the 1997-98 academic year are listed in tables 10 and 11. Of all types of eligible degree-granting institutions, public 2-but-less-than-4-year institutions have the lowest tuition and required fees for in-state undergraduate students (table 11). Public 4-year higher education institutions' charges for in-state undergraduate students are about twice as high as those of 2-year publics. Among all 4-year higher education institutions, public 4-year institutions' tuition and required fees charges for in-state undergraduate students are about 25 percent of what 4-year private, non-profit institutions charge and about 37 percent of what 4-year private, for-profits charge. Four-year publics charge out-of-state undergraduate students about 70 percent of what 4-year private, non-profits charge, and they charge about the same as private, for-profit institutions. Public 2-year higher education institutions charge in-state students between 20 and 24 percent of what private higher education 2-year institutions charge, and public 2-year institutions charge their out-of-state students between 55 and 62 percent of what 2-year privates charge (derived from table 11).

Table 10—Average institutional charges (not weighted by enrollment) for tuition and required fees and room and board charges, for full-time, full-year students at Title IV eligible postsecondary institutions, by level and control of institution: 50 states and the District of Columbia, academic year 1997-98

Table 11—Average institutional charges (not weighted by enrollment) for tuition and required fees and room and board charges, for full-time, full-year students at Title IV eligible degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by level and control of institution: 50 states and the District of Columbia, academic year 1997-98

* Institutions are eligible to participate in Title IV programs if they meet all of the following conditions: They are accredited by an agency or organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, they have a program of over 600 clock hours, they have been in business for at least 2 years, and they have signed a participation agreement with the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) in the Department of Education. Title IV eligibility was verified with OPE's list of participating institutions for the 1997-98 academic year. In this report, the term "eligible institution" means an institution that is eligible to participate in Title IV programs.