Education, Higher

Recent Statistics

The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Census Bureau are principal suppliers of information about higher education in the United States, although there are other sources as well. The statistics in this entry are from the 30 August 2002 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. The most recently available statistics for various categories of information are not always for the same year. In 2000–2001 the total U.S. higher-education enterprise comprised 4,182 institutions, including 1,698 in the public sector and 1,695 in the private or independent sector. In fall 1999 the combined total number of students enrolled at all categories of U.S. postsecondary institutions was 14,791,224. Comprehensive financial statistics are available only for the nonprofit institutions. In 1996–1997 the public nonprofit institutions had revenues of more than $130 billion and expenditures of almost $126 billion, while in 1995–1996 the private nonprofit institutions had revenues of approximately $74.5 billion and all expenditures totaling almost $71 billion.

India, with a population almost four times that of the United States, has the second-largest higher education enrollment, with 7,780,000 students in the year 2000. In 1998 China, with a population approximately five times that of the United States, enrolled 3,408,800 students. The United States and Japan have the world's highest percentage of high school graduates who continue their formal education, with slightly more than 65 percent of Japanese continuing and slightly less than 65 percent of Americans.

...