Enrollment Profile Classification
Enrollment Profile Classification provides a bird’s eye view of the student population by grouping institutions according to the mix of students enrolled at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Exclusively undergraduate institutions are further disaggregated by level (two-year and four-year). For institutions with both undergraduate and graduate students, institutions are grouped according to the distribution of full-time equivalent (FTE*) students across the two levels, giving an approximate measure of the student population’s “center of gravity.” As a result, it reflects important differences with respect to educational mission as well as institutional climate and culture—differences that can have implications for infrastructure, services, and resource allocation. For more information regarding how this classification is calculated, please click below.
Enrollment Profile Methodology
For a flowchart illustrating the logic of the six all-inclusive Classifications, click here.
Data are from the IPEDS Completions survey corresponding to degree conferrals from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020, as well as from the 2020 Institutional Characteristics and Fall Enrollments surveys. These were the most recent data available for all institutions as of December 2021.
Institutions were identified as two- or four-year based on a combination of IPEDS Completions and Institutional Characteristics data (institutional level). If an institution awarded no bachelor's or higher-level degrees and was designated within institutional characteristics as at the two-year level, it was included among two-year institutions.
Institutions were identified as exclusively undergraduate, combined undergraduate and graduate, or exclusively graduate based on the Fall 2020 enrollment data. For institutions with both undergraduate and graduate enrollments, the percentage of graduate was calculated as full-time equivalent (FTE*) graduate students as a proportion of FTE degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate. FTE was calculated as full-time headcount plus one-third part-time headcount.
EXCLUSIVELY UNDERGRADUATE TWO-YEAR
Fall enrollment data show only undergraduates enrolled at these associate’s degree granting institutions.
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EXCLUSIVELY UNDERGRADUATE FOUR-YEAR
Fall enrollment data show only undergraduates enrolled at these bachelor’s or higher degree granting institutions.
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VERY HIGH UNDERGRADUATE
Fall enrollment data show both undergraduate and graduate students, with the latter group accounting for less than 10 % of FTE* enrollment.
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HIGH UNDERGRADUATE
Fall enrollment data includes both undergraduate and graduate students, with the latter group accounting for 10–24 % of FTE* enrollment.
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MAJORITY UNDERGRADUATE
Fall enrollment data includes both undergraduate and graduate students, with the latter group accounting for 25–49 % of FTE* enrollment.
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MAJORITY GRADUATE
Fall enrollment data includes both undergraduate and graduate students, with the latter group accounting for at least half of FTE* enrollment.
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EXCLUSIVELY GRADUATE
Fall enrollment data includes only graduate students enrolled.
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*FTE: Full-time equivalent enrollment was calculated as full-time headcount plus one-third part-time headcount.
Classifications are time-specific snapshots of institutional attributes and behavior based on 2019-20 data.