Facts and figures
"For our society to achieve its ideal, there cannot be an unequal distribution of its most important asset — education."
– Michael M. Crow, President, Arizona State University
The educational experience at ASU is an immersion in a living-learning academic enterprise — a mindset focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, and a deep commitment to serving the public interest during a time of rapid and complex societal change. Nationally and internationally acclaimed, ASU consistently ranks among the very best in nearly every critical measurement of student success, outcomes of groundbreaking research and impact in the communities it serves.
| Enrollment | Fall 2019 | Fall 2018 | Fall 2017 | Fall 2016 | Fall 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan campus population | 74,878 | 72,709 | 71,828 | 71,946 | 71,049 |
| Tempe | 53,286 | 51,585 | 51,164 | 51,869 | 51,984 |
| Downtown Phoenix | 11,420 | 11,584 | 11,465 | 11,737 | 10,952 |
| Polytechnic | 5,243 | 5,095 | 4,809 | 4,380 | 4,078 |
| West | 4,929 | 4,445 | 4,063 | 3,663 | 3,619 |
| Thunderbird | -- | -- | 327 | 297 | 416 |
| SkySong campus | 45,073 | 38,540 | 31,702 | 26,200 | 20,273 |
| Total | 119,951 | 111,249 | 103,530 | 98,146 | 91,322 |
More than 53,500 students applied as incoming first-year students to ASU for the fall 2020 semester.
More than two-thirds of first-year students admitted for fall 2020 had unweighted GPAs of 3.35 and above.
92% of ASU undergraduate students received some level of financial assistance in fall 2019.
34% of ASU undergraduate students received Pell Grants in fall 2019.
ASU welcomed 12,677 incoming first-year students and accepted 88% of student applicants in fall 2020, demonstrating its commitment to educational access.
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For fall 2020 campus immersion, 60% of first-year students who are Arizona residents earned one of ASU’s top academic scholarships collectively called the New American University Scholarships.
Students in Barrett, The Honors College at ASU average a weighted high school GPA of 4.26. Seventy-four percent of the nearly 1,100 National Scholars enrolled at ASU are Barrett students, including more than 400 National Hispanic Merit Scholars.
The most diverse class ever, 47% of ASU’s incoming first-year students in fall 2020 came from minority backgrounds.
Reflecting ASU’s commitment to higher education access, 23% of ASU’s student body are first-generation college students.
ASU ranks No. 1 among the state’s public universities for its 86.2% first-year students retention rate.
ASU’s faculty is composed of some of the most innovative, brilliant professors and researchers — game-changers whose discoveries are positively impacting the world and whose guidance and mentorship is positively impacting their students.
ASU offers more than 350 academic undergraduate programs and majors led by expert faculty in highly ranked colleges and schools.
Through more than 450 graduate degree programs and certificates, ASU master’s and doctoral students work directly with the nation’s top researchers.
U.S. News & World Report ranks 79 ASU degree programs in the top 25 in the country, including 30 programs ranked in the nation’s top 10.
ASU is ranked top 10 nationally for best online bachelor's programs by U.S. News & World Report. It offers more than 200 online degree and certificate programs taught by award-winning ASU faculty.
impact
Our interdisciplinary, solutions-focused approach to research, entrepreneurship and economic development is centered on discovery that matters and the fusion of intellectual disciplines in order to solve complex problems.
ASU has moved up to sixth in the U.S. for research expenditures among universities without a medical school, ahead of Carnegie Mellon University, Princeton and the University of Georgia, according to the National Science Foundation Higher Education Research and Development Survey. Since 2002, ASU research expenditures have grown more than fivefold, going from $123 million to nearly $640 million today.
ASU is one of the fastest-growing research enterprises in the U.S., with an estimated $660 million total research expenditures in FY20.
One of the top-performing U.S. universities for inventions and licensing deals, ASU has been the launching pad for 160+ startups, generating $575 million in gross state product and $52 million in state and local tax revenues from 2016 through 2019.
Since 2003, ASU research has resulted in more than 4,100 invention disclosures, more than 980 U.S. issued patents, and startups based on ASU intellectual property have generated more than $833 million in investment capital.
impact
The ASU Foundation raised $290 million in FY20 for students, faculty, research and community programs.
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At the close of the 2020 fiscal year, 90,357 unique donors had given to ASU.
Supporting ASU's academic programs, research and initiatives, $290 million raised in FY20 generated new opportunities at the nation’s most innovative university.
In FY20, 7,900+ ASU students received scholarships funded by donors.
impact
ASU is one of Arizona's largest employers with more than 17,000 employees.
In FY20, the university generated an economic impact of $4.6 billion on the state’s gross product and 53,615 jobs.
In 2019, 259,883 ASU graduates worked in Arizona, earning $17.2 billion and paying between $1.22 and $1.46 billion in state and local taxes.
Novel coronavirus information
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