United States Private Colleges Ranked by Largest Enrollment

Below is a ranking of the 1262 private colleges in the United States with the largest enrollment of full and part time students. Western Governors University leads the list with a population of 210,208 students.

Enrollment is a measure of the size of the student body. Larger schools are more likely to offer a wider range of programs and services while smaller schools may have a more intimate and personalized experience.

List of United States Private Colleges Ranked by Largest Enrollment
College	Enrollment
Western Governors University Salt Lake City, Utah	210,208
Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, New Hampshire	189,531
Liberty University Lynchburg, Virginia	104,327
New York University New York, New York	56,832
University of Southern California Los Angeles, California	46,566
Brigham Young University Idaho Rexburg, Idaho	45,585
University of the People Pasadena, California	41,961
Boston University Boston, Massachusetts	37,737
Brigham Young University Provo, Utah	35,873
Columbia University in the City of New York New York, New York	35,173
Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts	32,553
Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts	30,259
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland	30,210
University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	29,109
Cornell University Ithaca, New York	26,793
George Washington University Washington, District Of Columbia	25,374
Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois	23,856
Syracuse University Syracuse, New York	22,589

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This list is updated annually based on the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Last updated: March 15, 2026

Data source: IPEDS 2025 survey for academic year 2024/2025 - National Center for Education Statistics.