A National Profile
of Private Higher Education
Affordable
Students of all family incomes find independent colleges and universities are affordable. In 1999-2000, 84 percent of full-time undergraduate students at private institutions received some form of financial aid.
| Tuition and fees at four-year private colleges and universities averaged $19,710 in 2003-2004. |
Diverse
The 1,600 private colleges and universities in the United States enroll more than 3.1 million students who reflect the diversity of the nation. These colleges include major research universities, church- and faith-related institutions, historically black colleges and universities, women's colleges, two-year colleges, and schools of law, medicine, engineering, art, business and other professions.
| Private colleges and universities offer degrees in more than 760 fields of study. |
Successful
Students at private colleges and universities are more likely to complete their undergraduate degrees in four years than are students at public institutions. Of students who completed their bachelor's degrees, 79 percent at private colleges were able to do so in four years, compared with only 49 percent at state colleges and universities.
| 50% of senior corporate executives received their undergraduate degree from a private college or university. |
Personal
Students receive more personal attention at private colleges and universities because student-faculty ratios are lower. Sixty-one percent of all first-generation students at private colleges and universities completed their bachelor's degrees within six years, compared to 44 percent at a public institution.
| The majority of expenditures at independent colleges and universities goes for instruction, student services and scholarships. |
Influential
Private colleges and universities employ three-quarters of a million people nationwide and often are the single largest private employers in their local region. In 2001, private colleges and universities had a cumulative economic impact exceeding $300 billion.
| More than half of students attending independent institutions participate in volunteer and community service activities, averaging eight hours per week. |
Flexible
Forty-four percent of private college and university students are 25 or older, and 29 percent attend part-time. With satellite campuses, flexible hours and a variety of academic programs, these institutions meet the needs of students from all walks of life.
| Approximately 80 percent of the U.S. population live within 50 miles of a private college or university. |
Information compiled from Independent Colleges and Universities:
A National Profile, courtesy of the National Association of Independent Colleges
and Universities, the Foundation for Independent Higher Education and the
Council of Independent Colleges.
