List of the largest United States colleges and universities by enrollment explained

This is a list of the largest United States colleges and universities by enrollment for colleges and universities in the United States.

What this list includes:

• Colleges and universities within the United States
• University systems if the system is run under a single administration
• Enrollment is the sum of the headcount of undergraduate and graduate students
• Enrollment is counted by the Integrated Post-secondary Education System within the United States Department of Education.
• Enrollment is the 12-month unduplicated headcount, indicating the number of unique students who attended the university during the year.

What this list does not include:

• Any indication of how many of the enrolled students are full or part-time (e.g., some universities may have a high enrollment, but have most students enrolled in only a single class)
• Any indication of how many students are online-only.

For other lists that measure university enrollment, see the see also section below.

Rankings

The United States Department of Education's Integrated Post-secondary Education Data System contains information on all 6,125 officially recognized institutions of higher education in the United States. The following is a list of the ten largest institutions of higher education by Fall 2020 enrollment, meaning it is the number of unique individuals who were enrolled in at least one class on the 21st day of the Fall 2020 semester. Whether a system of individual campuses is counted as one or multiple institutions depends on how that institution is accredited and chartered. All data can be verified on the IPEDS system website.^[1]

2020

U.S. Department of Education Fall 2020 Enrollment^[2]
Rank	Name	Classification	Location	Enrollment
1			Online	147,866
2		Private, Non-profit		134,345
3				103,427
4		Private		93,349
5				89,816
6		Private, For-profit	Arizona	89,763
7			Arizona	74,795
8		TBC		74,781
9		Public		71,881
10		Public	Texas	77,491 (as of 2023)

2013

U.S. Department of Education Fall 2013 Enrollment^[3]
Rank	College	Classification	Location	Enrollment
1				606,232
2				477,466^[4]
3				442,033
4		[Public university|Public || [[California (state)|California]] || 226,449^[5] |-|5 || University of North Carolina System|Public|North Carolina|222,322|-|6 || Ivy Tech Community College || Public || Indiana || 175,313|-|7 || Ashford University || Private, For-profit || Iowa || 169,843|-|8 || American Public University System || Private, For-profit || West Virginia || 110,644|-|9 || Liberty University || Private || Virginia || 110,000|-|10 || Miami Dade College || Public || Florida || 100,855|-|11 || Lone Star College System || Public || Texas || 98,313|-|12 || The Pennsylvania State University || Public || Pennsylvania || 94,441|-|13 || Houston Community College System || Public || Texas || 93,625|-|14 || Arizona State University || Public || Arizona || 81,789|-|15 || Kaplan University || Private, For-profit || Iowa || 77,566|-|16 || Northern Virginia Community College || Public || Virginia || 76,552|-|17 || Walden University || Private, For-profit || Minnesota || 75,895|-|18 || Tarrant County College District || Public || Texas || 75,547|-|19 || Wake Technical Community College || Public || North Carolina || 74,000^[6] |-|20 || Grand Canyon University || Private || Arizona || 71,712|-|21 || Austin Community College District || Public || Texas || 70,452|-|22 || University of Central Florida || Public || Florida || 69,086|-|23 || Ohio State University || Public || Ohio || 64,930|-|24 || University of Maryland || Public|| Maryland || 64,737|-|25 || University of Minnesota || Public || Minnesota || 63,929|-|26 || Broward College || Public || Florida || 62,796|-|27 || Florida International University || Public || Florida || 60,592|-|28 || Valencia College || Public || Florida || 60,469|-|29 || University of Florida || Public || Florida || 56,683|-|30 || East Los Angeles College || Public || California || 56,395|-|31 || College of Southern Nevada || Public || Nevada || 56,364|-|32 || Rio Salado College || Public || Arizona || 56,031|-|33 || Capella University || Private, For-profit || Minnesota || 56,009|-|34 || Portland Community College || Public || Oregon || 55,558|} See also List of largest universities List of largest universities by enrollment List of largest United States public university campuses by enrollment List of largest United States universities by undergraduate enrollment External links Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, U.S. Department of Education. Dataset cutting tool: All colleges and universities by enrollment count.

Notes and References

1. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/SummaryTables/report/201?templateId=2010&years=2020&tt=institutional&instType=2 IPEDS Datacenter
2. http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/ IPEDS Datacenter
3. http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/ IPEDS Datacenter
4. Web site: Enrollment | CSU .
5. Web site: University of California | 1: Undergraduate Admissions and Enrollment .
6. Web site: About Wake Tech. 21 December 2021.