Colleges & Universities

Brief Excerpt from Industry Overview Chapter:

The US colleges and universities industry includes about 4,300 degree-granting institutions with combined annual revenue of about $465 billion. About 60 percent of industry revenue is generated by state-operated public schools, 40 percent by private schools.

Some 1,700 schools are public, another 1,600 are private nonprofit institutions, and about 1,000 are for-profit private schools. Close to 75 percent of students are enrolled in public schools. Mainly because of big state universities, the industry is concentrated: more than 50 percent of all students are enrolled in the 500 largest schools. A majority of students (including graduate students) are enrolled in four-year schools, roughly 40 percent are in two-year (junior or community) colleges.

About 30 percent of people of traditional college age worldwide are enrolled in a college or university, according to the World Bank. North America boasts the highest percentage of enrolled college-age students at 84 percent, followed by Europe and Central Asia (58 percent).

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand for higher education services is largely driven by population dynamics, but also by employer requirements. The financial success of schools is closely related to the number of students enrolled, because many costs are fixed. Public schools have the advantage of public funding and are typically larger than private schools. Small schools can compete effectively by providing a superior education. The industry is labor-intensive: average annual revenue per worker is about $130,000....