Colleges With the Highest Acceptance Rates

Plenty of colleges with high acceptance rates offer a quality education.

Many schools on this list feature open admissions policies to help maintain equity and inclusivity in their student population. They recognize that students learn in many different ways and that many learners simply need the opportunity to show they can succeed in a higher education setting.

Whether you’re looking to start at a college with a high acceptance rate and transfer to a more competitive college or stay, consider beginning your educational journey at one of these schools.

Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.

We found the best universities with the highest acceptance rates to ensure you can access a college education.

We used the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to find the colleges with the highest acceptance rates. You can earn your bachelor’s degree from these online and in-person colleges or transfer to a more selective college.

Some colleges with the highest acceptance rates have high transfer-out rates, with over half of students transferring out of institutions like Albany State University and National University.

The City University of New York college system accepts students on rolling admission. It has an open admission policy, meaning you can apply whenever and be accepted into the college. The college has a 69% retention rate for first-time bachelor’s degree students but has a 33% graduation rate and 30% transfer rate.

CSI is test-optional, so you don’t have to submit your SAT or ACT scores to apply. CSI has you covered whether you’d like to pursue business, education, nursing, computer science, biology, psychology, or English.

Albany State University (ASU) is another college with an open admission policy, accepting all applicants. While the retention rate for first-time students is 68%, not many students stay at ASU. The graduation rate is a low 23%, with a high transfer rate of just above 40%.

ASU offers associate degrees, certificate programs, and over 20 bachelor’s degrees in nursing, accounting, biology, occupational and physical therapy.

The University of Maryland’s online global campus prides itself on its military student history, serving over 56,000 active duty members, reservists, veterans, and family members. The university has open admissions and offers over 135 programs, including cybersecurity, business and management, education, healthcare, and computer science.

The global campus retains about 40% of first-time students pursuing bachelor’s degrees. Still, the school has a low graduation rate of 30% and a high transfer rate of 29%.

National University has about 40,000 students and over 190 degree programs, including criminal justice and public service, law, healthcare and nursing, business and marketing, and teaching and education.

According to NCES, half of the National University’s students transfer out, while the other half stay and graduate.

Excelsior University’s mission is to empower adult learners, emphasizing historically underrepresented students. It offers over 35 distance-learning degrees in business, health sciences, nursing, computer science, cybersecurity, psychology, and more.

The university retained 74% of part-time, first-time students pursuing a bachelor’s degree; however, the university didn’t report any other statistics, such as full-time retention, graduation rates, and transfer-out rates.

UTEP is an open-admissions Hispanic-serving institution with an 86% Hispanic student population (24,000 students). The university has 170 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, including engineering, nursing, pharmacy, business, education, and more.

UTEP retains 75% full-time and 55% part-time first-time bachelor’s students. However, less than half of students graduate, and 20% transfer out.

The university offers over 90 undergraduate majors, including economics, business, education, and engineering. It also offers various support services, on-campus housing, and a booming sports culture.

Ole Miss has one of the highest admissions rates for a flagship public state university. The university slo retains 89% of first-time students pursuing bachelor’s degrees and graduates 68% of students.

CSU Stanislaus offers smaller class sizes to learn business, psychology, education, or computer science. The two-campus university has 48 undergraduate and 26 graduate programs in the heart of California.

The university has a 58% graduation rate and only a 2% transfer-out rate.

Our second CSU school on the list serves a majority Hispanic population, and about 80% of students receive financial aid. In 2021, Fresno State ranked 5th on the Social Mobility Index for high-quality, affordable education and received the 2021 Seal of Excelencia for serving Latino/a students.

The university retains 76% of first-time students and has a graduation rate of 55%.

While Southeastern Louisiana University is the state’s third-largest university, its close-knit community and rural location makes it feel small.

Southeastern has almost 15,000 students and over 150 programs, including nursing, computer science, education, and social sciences.

The school’s graduation rate is 45%, and the transfer rate is 32%.