A Snapshot of Enrollments at Women’s Colleges in the United States

New data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that in 2018, there were 72,649 women enrolled at women’s colleges in the United States. These colleges also enrolled more than 2,600 full-time men. (In most cases, these men are enrolled in night or weekend programs or in traditional programs but are not permitted to reside on campus.) Only five women’s colleges enrolled zero men: Spelman College in Atlanta, Bennett College in North Carolina, the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota, Cottey College in Missouri, and Barnard College in New York.

By a large margin, Texas Woman’s University had the largest enrollment of the women’s colleges. But the university is technically a co-educational institution, although 88 percent of the undergraduate student body are women. The next highest enrollment at a women’s college is at Simmons University in Boston. In 2018, Simmons enrolled more than 5,500 women. St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota, was the only other women’s institution that enrolled more than 3,000 women in 2018.

The women’s college with the smallest enrollment in 2018 was Judson College in Marion, Alabama. The college enrolled 264 women in 2018. Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri, enrolled 217 women in 2018. Sweet Briar College in Virginia enrolled the third-lowest number of students among women’s college in 2018. That year, there were 328 women enrolled at Sweet Briar College.