How Many College Students In The US 2025

· Updated January 17, 2025 · 4 minutes · by Kamerpower ·

How Many College Students In The US | College Enrollment Statistics. higher education remains a popular path for high school graduates and young adults and the number of college students in the U.S. has grown significantly over the years.

Here, we will let you know how many college students are in the US. We’ll give you a breakdown of this number according to state, nationality, institution and gender.

The Number of College Students by Category

The following data breaks down the total number of college students into three categories.

1. School Type

14.6 million students attend public institutions while 5.1 million students attend private institutions. The majority of college students in the United States are undergraduates, as evidenced by the data above. Only approximately 15% of postsecondary students study for a master’s degree.

2. Enrollment Status

12.0 million students are enrolled full-time while 7.7 million students are enrolled part-time.

3. Enrollment in College by Age

The majority of college students begin their studies as full-time students in their late teens. Part-time students are more likely to be older than full-time students. 92.0 percent of college students are under the age of 24. 12.8 million Americans aged 18 to 24 are enrolled in college or graduate school, accounting for 42.1 percent of the population. 74.5 percent of all 18- and 19-year-olds are enrolled in some form of an educational program. In school, 40.6 percent of 20- to 24-year-olds are enrolled.

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3. Academic Level

There are 16.7 million undergraduate students and 3.1 million graduate students scattered all across the different institutions in the US.

College Enrollment Statistics

According to college enrollment figures, more Americans are foregoing higher education; others may be deferring college attendance in order to save money. Enrollment peaked at 21.0 million in 2010. College students account for 10.4 percent of the population among persons over the age of 18.

There are 14.8 million full-time students. 71.1 percent of all college students enroll in four-year colleges, while 28.9% enroll in two-year institutions. Every year, 20.3 percent of all students graduate. In the fall, 3.2 million high schools (or equivalent) graduates will begin college. After high school, 69.1% of graduates enroll in college the following fall. 63.1 percent of them attend four-year colleges, while 36.9% attend two-year colleges.

82.7 percent of first-time, first-year college students are full-time students. In the United States, 10.4% of adults are enrolled in college, either part-time or full-time. Undergraduate students account for 8.4% of American adults, while postgraduate students account for 2%.

Number of College Students by Gender

Female college students have consistently outnumbered male students for over 40 years now. From a total of over 19.7 million students in the US, 11.3 million are female students amounting to 57% of the total student’s number while 8.5 million are male students which is equal to 43% of the total number of students.

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Higher education began as a male-dominated field, but as gender norms altered and feminists fought for gender equality, women’s college enrolment soared.

Number of College Students by state (US)

California, Texas, New York, and Florida are the states with the most college students, each with over one million students. California is the only state with a student population of over 2 million. When we consider that these four states have the highest total population, this data makes sense. Popular public university systems, such as the University of California, California State University, and the University of Texas, are also located there.

Vermont, Wyoming and Alaska on the other hand, are the states with the fewest college students. Each of these jurisdictions has a student population of less than 50,000. These states, unsurprisingly, have the smallest total populations.

Number of Students in College by Ethnicity/Race

2.6 million black.
1.3 million Asian/Pacific Islander.
0.7 million two or more races
1.0 million Non-Resident Alien.
10.3 million white
3.7 million Hispanic
0.1 million American Indian/ Alaska Native.

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