Oregon Public Higher Education Enrollment Increased in 2025
January 05, 2026Public universities and community colleges benefit Oregon’s economy by creating a more skilled and productive workforce, generating state and local tax revenue, driving local spending, and contributing to research and innovation. Enrollment in these institutions rose by 1.5% between 2024 and 2025, according to a new report by the Higher Education Coordination Commission, spurred by a 3.7% increase in community college enrollment. Public university enrollment fell slightly by 0.6%.
Enrollment was fairly evenly split between community colleges and universities in 2025. Around 98,400 students attended community colleges and 99,600 attended universities. Full time enrollment differed significantly, however. Just over a fifth of community college students attended community full-time as opposed to over four-fifths of university students.
Mixed Enrollment Trends for Public Universities
Oregon’s larger public universities had mixed enrollment trends over the year and decade. Enrollment at Oregon State University, the state’s largest public university, continued its decade-long rise in 2025. Total enrollment increased by 360 to 38,485, a 0.9% increase. That was the slowest increase in enrollment in the last eight years but still left Oregon State with 26.4% more students than it had a decade ago.
The University of Oregon, the state’s second largest public university, had essentially the same number of students over the year, dropping by 14 students to a headcount of 24,448. Like Oregon State, this was a slow-down from the university’s relatively strong enrollment growth over the last few years. In 2021, the University of Oregon reversed the steady enrollment decline which characterized the second half of the 2010s. In 2025, the UO had 1.3% more students than it had in 2015.
Oregon’s third largest public university, Portland State, saw enrollment dip by 773 to 19,697, continuing a decades-long decline. That represents a 3.8% drop over the year and 29.8% over the decade.
Like the largest public universities, enrollment in Oregon’s smaller public universities has been mixed. Over the year, enrollment grew at the Oregon Institute of Technology (2.7%) and Southern Oregon University (1.5%) but fell at Western Oregon University (-5.2%) and Eastern Oregon University (-6.6%).
Most of these smaller universities are still struggling to regain ground after the pandemic. Only Oregon Tech has grown over the decade, adding 13.7% more students compared to 2015, although that is still slightly below its peak in 2017. All other smaller universities saw double digit declines over the decade.
2025 Enrollment Gains Propelled by Community Colleges
Statewide enrollment in higher education was bolstered by community colleges, which continued the strong growth in enrollment beginning in 2023. Linn-Benton saw the fastest growth, rising by 23.7%. Oregon Coast (18.0%), Blue Mountain (16.0%), and Tillamook Bay (15.3%) also saw double digit growth. The highest numeric increase came from Portland Community College, Oregon’s largest, which added 1,926 students (6.7%), growing its sizeable student population to 30,548.
Not all community colleges gained students over the year. Clatsop saw a steep decline of -35%. Although less extreme, Columbia Gorge (-13.9%), Umpqua (-9.2%), Southwestern (-7.7%), Central Oregon (-2.3%), Clackamas (-1.5%), and Chemeketa (-0.6%) also saw head count enrollment declines.
Even though community college enrollment has been increasing since 2023, it’s still well below pre-pandemic levels. Full-time enrollment is 22.4% lower than it was a decade ago. Enrollment at public universities is also down slightly over the decade but has seen less year-over-year variation.