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of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

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    Data Dashboard

    Enrollment

    The visualizations in this dashboard provide an overview of credit enrollment in Pennsylvania higher education institutions from the 2010-11 to 2023-24 academic years. Trends in undergraduate and graduate credit enrollment are shown, and filters can be used to observe differences by enrollment type (e.g., full time, part time, over a full year, etc.), institution type and region.

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    Data are sourced from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), which is a federal institutional survey system administered by the National Center for Education Statistics, an office of the U.S. Department of Education.  Note that IPEDS does not collect data on non-credit enrollment, which likely results in an undercount of the total number of students enrolled in Pennsylvania postsecondary institutions. Data from IPEDS 12-Month and Fall Enrollment surveys were used to create this dashboard.

    Pennsylvania’s higher education institutions fall into eight institution types: 

    • PASSHE – Public four-year universities within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
    • State-Related Main Campus – A state-related university receives state funding through an annual nonpreferred appropriation from the General Assembly and offers a tuition discount to Pennsylvania residents. Each state-related university is governed by a board that includes Commonwealth officials and other members. There are four state-related main campuses in Pennsylvania—Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, and Lincoln University.
    • State-Related Regional Campus - Regional campuses of Pennsylvania State University and University of Pittsburgh, as well as Pennsylvania College of Technology.
    • Community College – Public two-year institutions that primarily confer Associate’s degrees and certificates.
    • Other Public Two-Year – Publicly-funded two-year institutions not categorized as community colleges.  This includes Northern Pennsylvania Regional College and Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, which primarily offer Associate’s degrees and certificates.
    • Independent Non-Profit Four-Year – Independent, non-profit colleges and universities granting Bachelor’s or higher degrees.
    • Private Licensed School – Privately operated, state-licensed schools offering postsecondary entry-level career training.
    • Specialized Institutions – Institutions that do not fit any of the above categories, including but not limited to cosmetology schools, schools of nursing, career and technical centers, and religiously-affiliated institutions and theological seminaries.

    A Technical Appendix provides detailed information about all data sources, data elements, and analyses utilized in the creation of these dashboards. A set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are also provided to address common questions about the dashboards.