New figures from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics show college enrollment increasing, but at a slower rate than in the past.
The number of students in postsecondary institutions in fall 2010 was 21.6 million, up 2.8 percent from the year before. From 2008 to 2009, enrollment grew by 7.1 percent, to just under 21 million. The report, released last week, is based on data from more than 7,000 postsecondary institutions.
In fall 2010, there were 19 million undergraduate and 3 million graduate students; 56 percent were enrolled in four-year institutions, 42 percent in two-year institutions, and 2 percent in less-than-two-year institutions.
For-profit colleges are becoming increasingly popular, with their enrollments growing by about 8 percent, while enrollments in public universities and private nonprofit colleges increased by about 2 percent.
Of the 3.3 million full-time, first-time undergraduate students attending institutions that took part in the federal student-aid program during the 2009-10 academic year, about 82 percent received financial aid, compared with 79 percent of students the previous year.
