Master's institutions in the United States
Master's colleges and universities award a significant number of master's degrees but few or no doctorates, under the Carnegie classification. This dataset includes 646 U.S. institutions classified as Master's 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 3,611,715 students in total.
Of these, 238 are public and 408 private. The largest by enrollment include Western Governors, Southern New Hampshire, and UMGC. Among institutions that report the figure, the median graduation rate is 52% and the median average net price is $19,076.
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. |
646 institutions
Page 10 of 14Saint Martin's University
Lacey, Washington
Saint Mary - of - the - Woods College
Saint Mary of the Woods, Indiana
Saint Mary's College of California
Moraga, California
Saint Peter's University
Jersey City, New Jersey
Saint Xavier University
Chicago, Illinois
Salem State University
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem University
Salem, West Virginia
Salisbury University
Salisbury, Maryland
Salve Regina University
Newport, Rhode Island
San Diego Christian College
Santee, California
San Jose State University
San Jose, California
Savannah College of Art and Design
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah State University
Savannah, Georgia
School of Visual Arts
New York, New York
Schreiner University
Kerrville, Texas
Seton Hill University
Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Shawnee State University
Portsmouth, Ohio
Shepherd University
Shepherdstown, West Virginia
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
Shorter University
Rome, Georgia
Siena College
Loudonville, New York
Siena Heights University
Adrian, Michigan
SIT Graduate Institute
Brattleboro, Vermont
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania
Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania
Sonoma State University
Rohnert Park, California
South Carolina State University
Orangeburg, South Carolina
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Rapid City, South Dakota
South University - Savannah
Savannah, Georgia
Southeast Missouri State University
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Southeastern Louisiana University
Hammond, Louisiana
Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Durant, Oklahoma
Southern Adventist University
Collegedale, Tennessee
Southern Arkansas University Main Campus
Magnolia, Arkansas
Southern Connecticut State University
New Haven, Connecticut
Southern Nazarene University
Bethany, Oklahoma
Southern New Hampshire University
Manchester, New Hampshire
Southern Oregon University
Ashland, Oregon
Southern University at New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
Southern Utah University
Cedar City, Utah
Southern Wesleyan University
Central, South Carolina
Southwest Baptist University
Bolivar, Missouri
Southwest Minnesota State University
Marshall, Minnesota
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Weatherford, Oklahoma
Spalding University
Louisville, Kentucky
Spring Arbor University
Spring Arbor, Michigan
Springfield College - Regional, Online, and Continuing Education
Springfield, Massachusetts
St Bonaventure University
Saint Bonaventure, New York
St. Joseph's University - New York
Brooklyn, New York
Frequently asked questions
- What is a Master's institution under the Carnegie Classification?
- Master's colleges and universities award a significant number of master's degrees but few or no doctorates, under the Carnegie classification. This dataset tracks 646 of them in the United States.
- What are the largest Master's in the U.S.?
- By total enrollment, the largest are Western Governors, Southern New Hampshire, UMGC, APUS, and Utah Valley.
- What is the typical graduation rate and net price for these institutions?
- The median graduation rate among institutions that report one is 52%, and the median average net price is $19,076. Figures come from IPEDS and College Scorecard.
Related categories
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Data: IPEDS Fall 2025–26 provisional · College Scorecard (June 2026 release). All sources & release dates →
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