Key Facts and Figures

Over seventeen million undergraduates are enrolled in more than 4,700 degree-granting institutions in the United States.

While college enrollment rate gaps across race and ethnicity are narrowing, gaps based upon gender and income-level are increasing.

Almost 80 percent of all undergraduates are enrolled in public colleges and universities.

Almost 40 percent of all undergraduates are enrolled in two-year public colleges.

Adult students make up 31 percent of the undergraduate population.

Thirty-seven percent of college students, and the majority of adult college students, study part time.

The number of international undergraduate students in the United States has increased by more than 67 percent since 2000.

Black and Hispanic students enroll at two-year colleges at higher rates compared with white and Asian students.

Black, Hispanic, and low-income students are underrepresented at the most selective colleges.

The most common number of four-year colleges to which students apply is two and the average acceptance rate at these schools is 65 percent.