Doctoral/Professional institutions in the United States
Doctoral/professional universities award research and professional-practice doctorates but fall below the research-activity thresholds for R1 or R2. This dataset includes 185 U.S. institutions classified as Doctoral/Professional under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, maintained by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, enrolling about 1,596,347 students in total.
Of these, 30 are public and 155 private. The largest by enrollment include Grand Canyon, University of Phoenix-Arizona, and Liberty. Among institutions that report the figure, the median graduation rate is 57% and the median average net price is $22,583.
R1 vs R2 vs Doctoral/Professional
The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, maintained by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation, sorts doctoral universities into these research tiers.
| Tier | Research activity | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| R1 | Very high research activity | Doctoral universities with the highest level of research activity, the top Carnegie research tier (e.g. Harvard, MIT, most flagship state universities). |
| R2 | High research activity | Doctoral universities with high research activity, the second Carnegie research tier, below R1 but above the doctoral/professional category. |
| Doctoral/Professional | Doctoral or professional-practice degrees | Universities that award research or professional-practice doctorates but fall below the research-activity thresholds for R1 or R2. |
185 institutions
Page 3 of 4Purdue University Global
West Lafayette, Indiana
Quinnipiac University
Hamden, Connecticut
Radford University
Radford, Virginia
Regent University
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Regis University
Denver, Colorado
Robert Morris University
Moon Township, Pennsylvania
Roosevelt University
Chicago, Illinois
Russell Sage College
Troy, New York
Sacred Heart University
Fairfield, Connecticut
Saint Ambrose University
Davenport, Iowa
Saint Leo University
Saint Leo, Florida
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
Winona, Minnesota
Samford University
Birmingham, Alabama
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, California
Saybrook University
Pasadena, California
Seattle Pacific University
Seattle, Washington
Seattle University
Seattle, Washington
Shenandoah University
Winchester, Virginia
Simmons University
Boston, Massachusetts
South College
Knoxville, Tennessee
South University - Columbia
Columbia, South Carolina
South University - Savannah Online
Savannah, Georgia
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Wake Forest, North Carolina
Southeastern University
Lakeland, Florida
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Edwardsville, Illinois
Springfield College
Springfield, Massachusetts
St Catherine University
Saint Paul, Minnesota
St. John Fisher University
Rochester, New York
St. John's University - New York
Queens, New York
St. Thomas University
Miami Gardens, Florida
Stockton University
Galloway, New Jersey
Suffolk University
Boston, Massachusetts
Taft University System
Denver, Colorado
Texas Wesleyan University
Fort Worth, Texas
Texas Woman's University
Denton, Texas
The College of Saint Scholastica
Duluth, Minnesota
The Master's University and Seminary
Santa Clarita, California
The University of Findlay
Findlay, Ohio
The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Touro University
New York, New York
Trevecca Nazarene University
Nashville, Tennessee
Trinity International University - Illinois
Deerfield, Illinois
Union University
Jackson, Tennessee
Universidad Ana G. Mendez - Gurabo Campus
Gurabo, Puerto Rico
University of Bridgeport
Bridgeport, Connecticut
University of Central Arkansas
Conway, Arkansas
University of Charleston
Charleston, West Virginia
University of Detroit Mercy
Detroit, Michigan
Frequently asked questions
- What is a Doctoral/Professional institution under the Carnegie Classification?
- Doctoral/professional universities award research and professional-practice doctorates but fall below the research-activity thresholds for R1 or R2. This dataset tracks 185 of them in the United States.
- What are the largest Doctoral/Professional in the U.S.?
- By total enrollment, the largest are Grand Canyon, University of Phoenix-Arizona, Liberty, Walden, and Capella.
- What is the typical graduation rate and net price for these institutions?
- The median graduation rate among institutions that report one is 57%, and the median average net price is $22,583. Figures come from IPEDS and College Scorecard.
Related categories
Browse by state
Data: IPEDS Fall 2025–26 provisional · College Scorecard (June 2026 release). All sources & release dates →
Explore every U.S. college in one conversation
Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card