For-Profit Enrollment Doubled Since 1996

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, North Carolina — For-profit schools, which have substantially increased their share of the nation’s college enrollment in recent years, attract a different blend of students than their public and private nonprofit counterparts, according to a new report by RTI International researchers.

In 1995-1996, just 5 percent of U.S. postsecondary students chose a for-profit school. By 2011-2012, that percentage had climbed to 13 percent.