ACCU Member Institution Data

Georgetown University, founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 and operated by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), was the first Catholic institution of higher education in the United States.

The National Center for Education Statistics lists 240 Catholic institutions participating in federal student financial aid programs in 2020-21. After excluding seminaries and correcting for institutions that have merged, closed or duplicated, the number goes down to 220.  However, ACCU has identified 10 other Catholic colleges that are not on the list, which brings the total to 230 Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States.
 
Of the 230 reporting colleges and universities, about:

• 204 grant associate, bachelors and graduate degrees
• 17 institutions grant only associate degrees, mostly in nursing or the health sciences.
• 9 institutions grant only graduate degrees.

Roman Catholic Identification Among First-Time, Full-Time Freshmen

The Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) surveys first-time, full-time college freshmen each year through the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey. While the number of participating Catholic institutions varies by year, the survey consistently finds that a majority of freshmen attending participating Catholic colleges and universities identify as Roman Catholic. 

Source: Higher Education Research Institute (HERI), CIRP Freshman Survey.

According to the authors of American Catholics Today: New Realities of their Faith and their Church, 42 percent of all Catholics who attended a Catholic college completed all or most of their education at Catholic schools (p. 160). The authors also state that 79 percent of current Catholic attendees at a Catholic college or university said they had attended a Catholic elementary school, and 65 percent had attended a Catholic high school. For more information about Catholic elementary and secondary schools, visit the website of the National Catholic Educational Association.

Catholic colleges and universities have a large number of students studying abroad and frequently host international students. According to the Institute of International Education, about 95 Catholic colleges and universities had at least ten students studying abroad in 2017-18, with about 27,600 students combined. Over 100 Catholic institutions enroll ten or more international students a year, with about 38,000 international students combined.​