Enrollment Trends for Massachusetts Colleges

There are 88 active four-years colleges and universities in Massachusetts - 15 public and 73 private schools. In the academic year 2022-2023, a total of 405,820 students have enrolled in four-years colleges in Massachusetts including undergraduate and graduate programs. Compared to the population of 10 years ago, the the number of students increased by 1.37% from 400,329 to 405,820. The undergraduate population decreased by 4.25% and the graduate population increased by 12.78% in last 10 years at Massachusetts Colleges.

By gender, there are 231,264 female students and 174,556 male students enrolled in the schools. The female to male students ratio is 1.32 to 1. The female students increased by 3.54% and male students decreased by 1.36% in that period.

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Student Population Changes

The average number of students over the past 10 years is 406,682, and 405,820 students were attending the schools in the academic year 2022-2023. Of the total students, 63.28% are undergraduate students and 36.72% are graduate students. Over the past 10, the number of undergraduate students decreased by 11,391, and the graduate student enrollment increased by 16,882.

The female to male ratio is 1.32 to 1, meaning that there are more female students enrolled in Massachusetts Colleges than male students.

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2013-14	400,329	268,181	120,459	147,722	132,148	56,507	75,641
2014-15	400,727 398	268,671 490	121,200 741	147,471 -251	132,056 -92	56,703 196	75,353 -288
2015-16	406,055 5,328	271,479 2,808	122,611 1,411	148,868 1,397	134,576 2,520	57,356 653	77,220 1,867
2016-17	408,126 2,071	270,514 -965	122,034 -577	148,480 -388	137,612 3,036	58,357 1,001	79,255 2,035
2017-18	411,796 3,670	271,295 781	122,825 791	148,470 -10	140,501 2,889	59,651 1,294	80,850 1,595
2018-19	413,265 1,469	270,632 -663	121,928 -897	148,704 234	142,633 2,132	60,337 686	82,296 1,446
2019-20	410,622 -2,643	267,223 -3,409	119,879 -2,049	147,344 -1,360	143,399 766	59,818 -519	83,581 1,285
2020-21	400,310 -10,312	256,905 -10,318	114,057 -5,822	142,848 -4,496	143,405 6	58,600 -1,218	84,805 1,224
2021-22	409,765 9,455	258,604 1,699	114,296 239	144,308 1,460	151,161 7,756	61,807 3,207	89,354 4,549
2022-23	405,820 -3,945	256,790 -1,814	113,207 -1,089	143,583 -725	149,030 -2,131	61,349 -458	87,681 -1,673
Average	406,682	266,029	119,250	146,780	140,652	59,049	81,604

Massachusetts Colleges Student Population Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the past 10 years is 266,029. Compared 10 years ago, the number of Undergraduate students decreased by 11,391 from 268,181 to 256,790.

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

Year	Total	Fulltime			Parttime
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2013-14	268,181	231,833	105,327	126,506	36,348	15,132	21,216
2014-15	268,671	233,390	106,607	126,783	35,281	14,593	20,688
2015-16	271,479	235,432	107,620	127,812	36,047	14,991	21,056
2016-17	270,514	236,290	107,806	128,484	34,224	14,228	19,996
2017-18	271,295	237,399	108,594	128,805	33,896	14,231	19,665
2018-19	270,632	237,799	108,056	129,743	32,833	13,872	18,961
2019-20	267,223	235,585	106,488	129,097	31,638	13,391	18,247
2020-21	256,905	224,742	100,258	124,484	32,163	13,799	18,364
2021-22	258,604	229,872	102,252	127,620	28,732	12,044	16,688
2022-23	256,790	227,543	100,921	126,622	29,247	12,286	16,961
Average	266,029	266,029	105,393	127,596	266,029	13,857	19,184

Massachusetts Colleges Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the past 10 years is 140,652. Compared 10 years ago, the number of Graduate students increased by 16,882 from 132,148 to 149,030.

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

Year	Total	Fulltime			Parttime
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2013-14	132,148	73,207	33,649	39,558	58,941	22,858	36,083
2014-15	132,056	73,644	33,929	39,715	58,412	22,774	35,638
2015-16	134,576	74,968	34,064	40,904	59,608	23,292	36,316
2016-17	137,612	77,761	35,275	42,486	59,851	23,082	36,769
2017-18	140,501	81,231	36,554	44,677	59,270	23,097	36,173
2018-19	142,633	82,232	36,755	45,477	60,401	23,582	36,819
2019-20	143,399	82,076	36,454	45,622	61,323	23,364	37,959
2020-21	143,405	80,502	34,766	45,736	62,903	23,834	39,069
2021-22	151,161	87,020	37,877	49,143	64,141	23,930	40,211
2022-23	149,030	88,159	38,210	49,949	60,871	23,139	37,732
Average	140,652	140,652	35,753	44,327	140,652	23,295	37,277

Massachusetts Colleges Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 47.28% and the percentage of black students is 6.98% at Massachusetts Colleges. 9.93% of enrolled students is Asian.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Massachusetts 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	728	28,515	24,483	27,827	385	225,411	9,726
2014-15	698	30,024	25,436	29,277	258	222,451	10,463
2015-16	685	30,642	26,208	31,437	262	221,027	11,330
2016-17	650	31,599	26,678	32,969	297	218,930	11,481
2017-18	633	33,259	27,153	35,467	312	218,266	11,660
2018-19	621	34,305	27,604	37,122	316	214,456	12,246
2019-20	587	35,523	27,213	38,484	292	208,974	12,962
2020-21	541	37,106	27,645	39,837	263	203,141	13,347
2021-22	527	39,616	27,523	41,032	270	200,339	14,160
2022-23	513	40,313	28,315	41,902	263	191,875	14,305
Average	618	34,090	26,826	35,535	292	212,487	12,168

Massachusetts Colleges Student Population by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

58,460 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2022-2023, which is 14% of total students. The number of online students has increased 136.66% since 2013.

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

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2012-13	398,885	24,702	23,887	350,296
2013-14	400,329	24,606	26,068	349,655
2014-15	400,727	28,259	28,575	343,893
2015-16	406,055	30,801	31,043	344,211
2016-17	408,126	34,575	41,100	332,451
2017-18	411,796	37,477	35,818	338,501
2018-19	413,265	39,317	38,047	335,901
2019-20	410,622	41,103	38,657	330,862
2020-21	399,953	184,662	110,396	104,895
2021-22	409,765	63,968	76,753	269,044
2022-23	405,820	58,460	63,153	284,207
Average	405,940	51,630	46,682	307,629

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