ED Data Tracks Student Enrollment, Tuition Revenue, Instruction Expenses
By Allie Bidwell, Communications Staff
Undergraduate enrollment at colleges and universities in the U.S. dropped slightly over the last five years, according to new data from the Department of Education’s (ED) National Center for Education Statistics. During that same time period, the percentage of revenue derived from student tuition and fees sharply declined at private nonprofit institutions, while holding fairly steady at public four-year and private for-profit schools.
In fall 2014, approximately 17.7 million undergraduate students were enrolled in Title IV institutions. That’s down slightly from about 18 million undergraduate students in fall 2009. Graduate student enrollment, meanwhile, increased slightly from about 2.8 million in fall 2009 to 2.9 million in fall 2014.
During those five years, the percentage of revenue derived from student tuition and fees remained relatively unchanged at public four-year institutions, increasing slightly from 19.6 percent in fiscal year 2009 to 20.3 percent in fiscal year 2014. Revenue from tuition and fees also increased slightly at for-profit institutions, from 87.7 percent in fiscal year 2009 to 90.7 percent in fiscal year 2014.
But at private four-year nonprofit institutions, revenue from tuition and fees plummeted over five years, falling from 77.8 percent in 2009 to 29.5 percent in 2014. While the decline may appear to be a reflection of the increasing tuition discount rate in the private nonprofit sector, which the National Association of College and University Business Officers has documented, it should be noted that in FY2009, investment return was negative $64 billion, so the proportion of all revenue coming from tuition and fees ($53 billion) was much higher as a result.
The new ED data also tracked institutional expenses, and showed that during fiscal year 2014, about 29 percent of expenses at public four-year schools were for instruction, compared with 43 percent at public two-year institutions, and about 51 percent at public less-than-two-year institutions. At private nonprofit four-year institutions, about 33 percent of expenses were for instruction, compared with about 25.4 percent at private for-profit four-year institutions. Those numbers generally increase slightly or held steady across the board since fiscal year 2009.
Information in this article was corrected on 12/1/15.
Publication Date: 12/1/2015
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