Enrollment Trends for California Colleges

There are 307 active four-years colleges and universities in California - 54 public and 253 private schools. In the academic year 2022-2023, a total of 1,441,360 students have enrolled in four-years colleges in California including undergraduate and graduate programs. Compared to the population of 10 years ago, the the number of students increased by 5.7% from 1,363,590 to 1,441,360. The undergraduate population increased by 2.84% and the graduate population increased by 16.79% in last 10 years at California Colleges.

By gender, there are 824,930 female students and 616,430 male students enrolled in the schools. The female to male students ratio is 1.34 to 1. The female students increased by 8.93% and male students increased by 1.68% in that period.

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Student Population Changes

The average number of students over the past 10 years is 1,440,405, and 1,441,360 students were attending the schools in the academic year 2022-2023. Of the total students, 77.40% are undergraduate students and 22.60% are graduate students. Over the past 10, the number of undergraduate students increased by 33,905, and the graduate student enrollment increased by 46,980.

The female to male ratio is 1.34 to 1, meaning that there are more female students enrolled in California Colleges than male students.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at California Colleges since 2014.

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2013-14	1,363,590	1,084,096	484,800	599,296	279,494	121,456	158,038
2014-15	1,404,000 40,410	1,121,468 37,372	501,969 17,169	619,499 20,203	282,532 3,038	123,178 1,722	159,354 1,316
2015-16	1,414,408 10,408	1,129,987 8,519	507,446 5,477	622,541 3,042	284,421 1,889	123,124 -54	161,297 1,943
2016-17	1,432,234 17,826	1,146,198 16,211	513,413 5,967	632,785 10,244	286,036 1,615	121,893 -1,231	164,143 2,846
2017-18	1,454,008 21,774	1,152,423 6,225	513,642 229	638,781 5,996	301,585 15,549	126,259 4,366	175,326 11,183
2018-19	1,462,427 8,419	1,155,517 3,094	511,814 -1,828	643,703 4,922	306,910 5,325	126,255 -4	180,655 5,329
2019-20	1,469,723 7,296	1,159,473 3,956	511,411 -403	648,062 4,359	310,250 3,340	125,717 -538	184,533 3,878
2020-21	1,475,416 5,693	1,152,006 -7,467	501,625 -9,786	650,381 2,319	323,410 13,160	128,796 3,079	194,614 10,081
2021-22	1,486,881 11,465	1,149,730 -2,276	505,220 3,595	644,510 -5,871	337,151 13,741	133,563 4,767	203,588 8,974
2022-23	1,441,360 -45,521	1,114,936 -34,794	487,980 -17,240	626,956 -17,554	326,424 -10,727	128,450 -5,113	197,974 -5,614
Average	1,440,405	1,136,583	503,932	632,651	303,821	125,869	177,952

California Colleges Student Population Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the past 10 years is 1,136,583. Compared 10 years ago, the number of Undergraduate students increased by 30,840 from 1,084,096 to 1,114,936.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Undergraduate enrollment by attending status and gender at California Colleges since 2014.

Year	Total	Fulltime			Parttime
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2013-14	1,084,096	818,798	359,590	459,208	265,298	125,210	140,088
2014-15	1,121,468	854,266	376,070	478,196	267,202	125,899	141,303
2015-16	1,129,987	856,178	377,856	478,322	273,809	129,590	144,219
2016-17	1,146,198	866,272	381,114	485,158	279,926	132,299	147,627
2017-18	1,152,423	877,136	384,494	492,642	275,287	129,148	146,139
2018-19	1,155,517	880,654	384,053	496,601	274,863	127,761	147,102
2019-20	1,159,473	885,845	385,094	500,751	273,628	126,317	147,311
2020-21	1,152,006	859,338	366,427	492,911	292,668	135,198	157,470
2021-22	1,149,730	859,231	368,433	490,798	290,499	136,787	153,712
2022-23	1,114,936	835,394	359,427	475,967	279,542	128,553	150,989
Average	1,136,583	1,136,583	374,256	485,055	1,136,583	129,676	147,596

California Colleges Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the past 10 years is 303,821. Compared 10 years ago, the number of Graduate students increased by 46,930 from 279,494 to 326,424.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Graduate enrollment by attending status and gender at California Colleges since 2014.

Year	Total	Fulltime			Parttime
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2013-14	279,494	196,623	86,882	109,741	82,871	34,574	48,297
2014-15	282,532	200,767	88,913	111,854	81,765	34,265	47,500
2015-16	284,421	202,050	88,823	113,227	82,371	34,301	48,070
2016-17	286,036	204,203	88,203	116,000	81,833	33,690	48,143
2017-18	301,585	211,212	90,568	120,644	90,373	35,691	54,682
2018-19	306,910	215,066	90,812	124,254	91,844	35,443	56,401
2019-20	310,250	216,996	90,140	126,856	93,254	35,577	57,677
2020-21	323,410	216,470	87,087	129,383	106,940	41,709	65,231
2021-22	337,151	229,907	92,575	137,332	107,244	40,988	66,256
2022-23	326,424	227,766	91,691	136,075	98,658	36,759	61,899
Average	303,821	303,821	89,569	122,537	303,821	36,300	55,416

California Colleges Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 24.25% and the percentage of black students is 5.63% at California Colleges. 16.64% of enrolled students is Asian.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at California Colleges over the past 10 years (2013-2023).

Year	American Indian or Native American	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	White	Two or More Races
Year	2013-14	5,319	220,376	90,344	364,963	6,771	446,366	55,524
2014-15	5,038	222,951	89,962	394,611	6,935	434,602	60,373
2015-16	4,701	224,764	86,615	417,433	6,218	421,121	61,734
2016-17	4,723	226,456	86,346	437,338	6,015	409,444	62,655
2017-18	4,496	228,742	83,989	456,520	6,242	402,812	65,764
2018-19	4,270	230,068	82,047	473,377	6,371	390,094	66,209
2019-20	4,289	230,568	82,445	486,124	6,266	384,393	66,144
2020-21	4,143	238,177	84,938	490,352	6,317	378,776	66,873
2021-22	3,890	239,766	82,575	487,627	5,816	369,401	67,783
2022-23	3,889	240,384	81,259	496,467	5,405	350,232	68,645
Average	4,476	230,225	85,052	450,481	6,236	398,724	64,170

California Colleges Student Population by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

294,076 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2022-2023, which is 20% of total students. The number of online students has increased 92.85% since 2013.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at California Colleges from 2012 to 2023.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2012-13	1,350,612	152,486	127,406	1,070,720
2013-14	1,363,590	147,360	137,742	1,078,488
2014-15	1,404,000	147,285	150,377	1,106,338
2015-16	1,414,408	147,142	186,174	1,081,092
2016-17	1,432,234	158,050	216,345	1,057,839
2017-18	1,454,008	164,796	239,607	1,049,605
2018-19	1,462,427	171,566	260,536	1,030,325
2019-20	1,469,723	181,138	282,700	1,005,885
2020-21	1,473,938	1,073,604	180,349	219,985
2021-22	1,486,881	483,696	549,228	453,957
2022-23	1,441,360	294,076	425,353	721,931
Average	1,432,107	283,745	250,529	897,833

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4-Year Colleges

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University of California-Los Angeles Public, four-years | Los Angeles
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Graduate

Northcentral University Private, four-years | San Diego
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San Francisco State University Public, four-years | San Francisco
Loma Linda University Private, four-years | Loma Linda
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California State University-Los Angeles Public, four-years | Los Angeles

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Online Schools

Northcentral University Private, four-years | San Diego
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CBD College Private, four-years | Los Angeles
UEI College-Riverside Private, Less than 2-years | Riverside
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National Polytechnic College Private, 2-4 years | Lakewood
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