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Student Enrollment Rises the Most in New Hampshire, Least in Alaska — Plus the Colleges With the Biggest Growth

Written by

Edited by

Dan Shepard

Pearly Huang

Updated on: August 25th, 2021

Editorial Note: The content of this article is based on the author’s opinions and recommendations alone. It may not have been reviewed, commissioned or otherwise endorsed by any of our network partners.

The number of students enrolled in postsecondary education increased from 15.3 million in 2000 to an estimated 19.7 million in 2019 — a jump of 29%.

In that same period, 22 states saw higher growth in student enrollment, led by New Hampshire and Utah. And further, at the institution level, each of the 50 largest private universities saw higher growth, along with 17 of the 50 largest public universities.

LendingTree analysts looked at student enrollment changes between 2000 and 2019 — the latest available data — to find the states and schools that are taking on more students.

Key findings
College students flock to New Hampshire; Southern enrollment growth may have peaked
Students see the Last Frontier as a last resort
College students may be leaning toward private schools
Private vs. public colleges: Is there a better option?
Methodology

Key findings

New Hampshire has seen the highest student enrollment growth since 2000. Enrollment at postsecondary institutions is up 174% in the Granite State, ahead of Utah (133%) by 41 percentage points. In third is Idaho, with an 86% jump.
Alaska has seen the largest reduction in student enrollment since 2000. In the Last Frontier, enrollment is down 16%. Alaska is one of only three states — including Michigan (down 7%) and Illinois (down 3%) — where enrollment has declined.
Each of the 50 largest private schools saw their enrollment rise in this period. Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester towers the other schools on the list with a 2,376% increase. Next closest is Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., at 1,282%.
17 of the 50 largest public schools saw enrollment increase by more than the 29% national rate of growth. This was led by two schools that saw increases of at least 100%: Penn State University in State College, Pa. (125%), and the University of Central Florida in Orlando (106%).

College students flock to New Hampshire; Southern enrollment growth may have peaked

Live free or … go to college? New Hampshire has seen the largest increase in student enrollment at its colleges and universities since 2000.

The state home to such institutions as Dartmouth College and the University of New Hampshire saw enrollment jump 174% since 2000. Much of the growth occurred somewhat recently as New Hampshire saw enrollment grow by 124% from 2010 to 2019.

Utah and Idaho follow New Hampshire with enrollment growth of 133% and 86%, respectively. Arizona sneaks in the No. 4 spot before Southern states fill out the rest of the top 10.

Among the 10 states that saw the biggest enrollment increases from 2000 to 2019, Texas stands out as the only Southern state that also saw enrollment increase from 2010 to 2019. In fact, only five states and the District of Columbia saw enrollment increase in this period.

Drops in enrollment in 43 states between 2010 and 2019 suggest enrollment growth may have peaked in the first decade of the 2000s.

Students see the Last Frontier as a last resort

As it turns out, college students might not want to spend their undergrad years in the tundra. Despite so much room to grow in the nation’s largest state by area, enrollment in Alaska colleges and universities fell by 16% — the largest decrease of any state — from 2000 to 2019.

Though enrollment did increase by 24% from 2000 to 2010, a whopping 33% decrease from 2010 to 2019 brought Alaska’s enrollment below 2000 levels.

Perhaps snow helps deter would-be students as Michigan — with winters that can be nearly as snowy as Alaska — falls second-to-last in the rankings with a 7% enrollment drop since 2000. The only other state to see a net negative enrollment from 2000 to 2019, Illinois lost 3% of its student population.

States where enrollment grew the least, 2000-2019
Rank	State	% change 2000-2019	% change 2010-2019
1	Alaska	-16%	-33%
2	Michigan	-7%	-25%
3	Illinois	-3%	-21%
4	Hawaii	0%	-23%
5	Rhode Island	6%	-6%
6	Wyoming	8%	-15%
7	Oklahoma	8%	-16%
8	Wisconsin	8%	-13%
9	Louisiana	9%	-8%
10	New Mexico	10%	-25%

College students may be leaning toward private schools

While college enrollment is up 29% nationally since 2000, private institutions appear to be growing faster than public schools. All 50 of the largest private schools saw enrollment rise faster than the national rate from 2000 to 2019, while just 17 of the 50 largest public schools can say the same. Further, the largest private schools grew enrollment by an average 143%, compared with a meager 27% across the largest public schools.

Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) leads the pack with an explosive 2,376% increase in student enrollment. As of 2019, 113,514 undergraduate and graduate students — most of whom attend online — make SNHU the largest university in the country by enrollment. SNHU not only leads private colleges in enrollment growth, but its increase also exceeds all 50 of the largest public schools.

Liberty University in Virginia follows SNHU in the private school ranking, having grown its student population by 1,282% from 2000 to 2019. Most of Liberty’s students enroll in online classes exclusively. Brigham Young University in Idaho more than tripled enrollment in this period, but its 337% growth rate gets dwarfed by the two schools growing faster.

50 largest U.S. private colleges and universities, ranked by enrollment growth 2000-2019
Rank	School	State	Total enrollment, 2000	Total enrollment, 2019	Percentage change
1	Southern New Hampshire University	NH	4,584	113,514	2,376%
2	Liberty University	VA	6,192	85,586	1,282%
3	Brigham Young University-Idaho	ID	8,949	39,145	337%
4	Savannah College of Art and Design	GA	4,923	14,840	201%
5	Columbia College	MO	3,340	9,913	197%
6	Wilmington University	DE	5,298	14,730	178%
7	University of St. Thomas	MN	4,073	9,824	141%
8	Chapman University	CA	4,353	9,850	126%
9	University of the Incarnate Word	TX	3,702	8,175	121%
10	Cornell University	NY	12,043	24,027	100%
11	Baker College	MI	3,896	7,606	95%
12	Drexel University	PA	13,128	24,205	84%
13	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	MA	3,874	6,894	78%
14	Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	4,121	7,283	77%
15	Rice University	TX	4,205	7,282	73%
16	Elon University	NC	4,138	7,088	71%
17	Pace University	NY	7,911	13,395	69%
18	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	8,514	14,180	67%
19	Brandman University	CA	6,145	10,231	66%
20	Gonzaga University	WA	4,548	7,537	66%
21	University of Southern California	CA	29,194	48,321	66%
22	Long Island University	NY	9,627	15,546	61%
23	University of Indianapolis	IN	3,599	5,801	61%
24	Sacred Heart University	CT	5,684	9,156	61%
25	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	19,639	31,456	60%
26	Georgetown University	DC	12,427	19,593	58%
27	University of New Haven	CT	4,349	6,793	56%
28	Johns Hopkins University	MD	17,774	27,079	52%
29	University of Rochester	NY	8,071	12,233	52%
30	Quinnipiac University	CT	6,477	9,708	50%
31	Biola University	CA	4,092	6,103	49%
32	Lewis University	IL	4,304	6,359	48%
33	Touro College	NY	8,092	11,631	44%
34	Azusa Pacific University	CA	6,497	9,297	43%
35	New York University	NY	37,150	52,885	42%
36	Texas Christian University	TX	7,775	11,024	42%
37	Florida Institute of Technology	FL	4,248	6,022	42%
38	Creighton University	NE	6,237	8,821	41%
39	Excelsior College	NY	18,067	25,245	40%
40	University of Chicago	IL	12,531	17,452	39%
41	Lindenwood University	MO	6,056	8,392	39%
42	Wake Forest University	NC	6,173	8,495	38%
43	University of Denver	CO	9,444	12,931	37%
44	Duke University	NC	12,192	16,686	37%
45	Loyola University Chicago	IL	12,605	17,159	36%
46	George Washington University	DC	20,527	27,814	35%
47	Adelphi University	NY	5,908	7,991	35%
48	University of San Francisco	CA	7,917	10,636	34%
49	Brown University	RI	7,723	10,333	34%
50	Washington University in St. Louis	MO	12,118	16,191	34%

Enrollment at public colleges and universities has been growing at a much less dramatic rate, with the fastest-growing — Penn State University-Main Campus — increasing enrollment by 125% over the 20-year period.

Unlike private colleges, just two public schools saw enrollment increase by more than 100%. The University of Central Florida saw enrollment increase by 106% since 2000. Florida International University ranks as the next fastest-growing public school with an 84% enrollment increase.

50 largest U.S. public colleges and universities, ranked by enrollment growth 2000-2019
Rank	School	State	Total enrollment, 2000	Total enrollment, 2019	Percentage change
1	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	PA	40,571	91,427	125%
2	University of Central Florida	FL	33,713	69,402	106%
3	Florida International University	FL	31,945	58,711	84%
4	Valencia College	FL	27,565	47,940	74%
5	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	44,026	68,726	56%
6	University of North Texas	TX	27,054	39,336	45%
7	University of Cincinnati-Main Campus	OH	27,327	39,263	44%
8	University of Houston	TX	32,123	46,148	44%
9	California State University-Fullerton	CA	28,381	40,445	43%
10	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	35,236	50,173	42%
11	University of California-Berkeley	CA	31,277	43,185	38%
12	California State University-Northridge	CA	29,066	39,910	37%
13	Temple University	PA	28,355	38,794	37%
14	San Jose State University	CA	26,698	36,085	35%
15	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	IL	38,465	51,605	34%
16	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	36,139	47,576	32%
17	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	27,869	36,383	31%
18	University of Arizona	AZ	34,488	44,577	29%
19	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	29,352	37,883	29%
20	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	47,952	61,391	28%
21	North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	28,619	36,304	27%
22	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	38,103	48,090	26%
23	California State University-Long Beach	CA	30,918	38,674	25%
24	Florida State University	FL	33,971	42,450	25%
25	Colorado State University-Fort Collins	CO	26,807	33,426	25%
26	University of South Florida-Main Campus	FL	35,561	44,246	24%
27	University of Georgia	GA	31,288	38,920	24%
28	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	PA	26,329	32,686	24%
29	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	33,189	40,743	23%
30	Arizona State University-Tempe	AZ	44,126	53,286	21%
31	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	36,890	44,371	20%
32	Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	37,076	43,260	17%
33	University of Florida	FL	45,114	52,407	16%
34	Michigan State University	MI	43,366	49,809	15%
35	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	39,667	45,500	15%
36	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	TN	25,890	29,460	14%
37	College of Southern Nevada	NV	29,905	33,942	13%
38	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	45,481	51,327	13%
39	San Diego State University	CA	31,609	35,544	12%
40	University of Iowa	IA	28,311	31,240	10%
41	Miami Dade College	FL	46,834	51,679	10%
42	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	40,658	44,257	9%
43	San Francisco State University	CA	26,826	29,032	8%
44	Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis	IN	27,525	29,537	7%
45	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	49,996	51,090	2%
46	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College	LA	31,527	31,756	1%
47	Santa Monica College	CA	27,868	27,497	-1%
48	Wayne State University	MI	30,408	26,824	-12%
49	Western Michigan University	MI	28,657	21,470	-25%
50	Central Michigan University	MI	26,845	19,362	-28%

Private vs. public colleges: Is there a better option?

At a time when many are paying close attention to the student debt crisis, it might come as a surprise to see enrollment at public colleges — which are often more affordable than private schools — growing at such slower relative rates.

A LendingTree study found that tuition at private and public schools is growing at nearly the same rate, so it’s possible more students are looking beyond local public colleges to find the right education for them at the right price. If a student finds that it will cost the same to attend a small specialized private college as it would to attend a large state school, plenty of students would likely take the former option.

“Private schools benefit from reputation and legacy, to be sure, but they’re also more likely in many cases to have an intimate feel, where students and faculty in smaller numbers work side by side in specific fields,” LendingTree senior writer Andrew Pentis says. “In a country that’s working toward specialization in education, it’s no surprise that the general education of a public four-year university might pale in comparison.”

When it comes to paying for college, each student and their family’s situation is unique and there are different benefits and drawbacks to financial assistance at private and public schools.

“Private schools might be limited in what federal financial assistance they can offer, but a private school could have more leeway to provide school-sponsored gift aid,” Pentis says.

In fact, some private schools attract students with “no-loan” policies where the schools replace federal and private loans included in a student’s aid package with grants, scholarships or work-study opportunities. On the contrary, state financial aid grants may be limited to in-state or public institutions depending on each grant’s eligibility requirements.

Methodology

LendingTree researchers used Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) student enrollment data from 2000, 2010 and 2019 to find the states with the largest increases and decreases at degree-granting, postsecondary institutions.

Analysts also pulled the 50 largest public and private universities by total student enrollment and ranked them based on student enrollment growth since 2000.

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