Vermont ranking · Clery-reported enrollment 2024

The Largest Universities in Vermont

Every Vermont college and university that reports an enrolment to the U.S. Department of Education, ranked biggest first. Total enrolment counts online and distance students, so an institution with a large virtual programme can outrank a bigger physical campus.

14,476
Largest in Vermont
15
Institutions reporting
927
Median Vermont institution
#49
of 51 states by enrolment

University of Vermont is the largest institution in Vermont with 14,476 students

According to U.S. Department of Education campus-safety enrollment filings for 2024, University of Vermont leads Vermont at 14,476 students, and the five largest hold 80.5% of state enrollment. This list covers all 15 reporting institutions. Totals include online learners, so a large virtual programme can outrank a bigger physical campus.

Data source U.S. Department of Education, OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey

Largest in Vermont
14,476
Institutions reporting
15
State students in top 5
80.5%
Median Vermont institution
927

Vermont in one line

University of Vermont is the largest institution in Vermont with 14,476 students, about 16x the 927 of the median institution in the state. 80.5% of every student in the state is enrolled at just these five institutions, so Vermont's higher education is concentrated at the top.

14,476
students at University of Vermont
80.5%
of state students, in the top 5
38,527
students enrolled across Vermont
57
the #15 cutoff

Enrollment is total students reported in the OPE campus-safety disclosure for 2024, including online and distance learners. IPEDS supplies institution location and sector. The incident column is reported on-campus Clery Act incidents per 1,000 enrolled students.

Size joined to safety

Among the 6 mid-to-large campuses on this Vermont size list, 1 report below the 1.58 national median incident rate per 1,000, 0 also rank in the national safest-50, and the list averages 4.21 against that 1.58 median (University of Vermont itself reports 2.63).

6
mid-to-large campuses on this list
1
below 1.58 national median /1k
0
also in national safest-50
2.63
University of Vermont rate /1k

Incident rates are on-campus Clery Criminal Offenses and VAWA reports per 1,000 enrolled students for campuses with enrollment ≥ 2,000 and a national safety rank. A lower rate is not a personal safety verdict, reporting culture and online enrollment dilute raw counts. See /rankings/safest-campuses for the size-fair national list.

What this ranking shows about Vermont

Vermont ranks 49th by total enrolment among the states and DC, so even its largest institutions are modest against national leaders. Only 3 of the 15 institutions reporting enrolment here are public; Vermont educates an unusually large share of its students in private institutions.

Ranking by total enrolment puts institutions with large online programmes above institutions with larger physical campuses, because a virtual student body is not limited by classrooms or housing. A list of the biggest campuses by students physically present would order differently, and neither list is more correct, because they answer different questions. Enrolment here is the total headcount an institution reported to the federal OPE reporting cohort, which counts undergraduate and graduate students together and makes no distinction between full-time and part-time study. A university with a very large part-time or continuing-education population can therefore outrank one with more students on campus on any given weekday.

The incident-rate column is here because institution size changes how a raw incident count should be read, not because a larger university is more or less safe. Two institutions with the same number of reported incidents are not comparable if one enrols five times as many students, so the column expresses incidents per thousand enrolled. A rate still reflects reporting practice as much as underlying risk: an institution that encourages reporting and investigates thoroughly can record more incidents than one that does neither, and that is the opposite of what a naive reading suggests. Institutions where most students study online show diluted rates, because the denominator counts students who never set foot on a campus. Read the column as context for the size ranking, never as a safety verdict, and see our methodology for how both figures are assembled. For the same institutions ranked by cost rather than size, see the cheapest colleges rankings, or browse every institution we hold a record for.

Comparing states? See the 50 largest universities in the US, or this state's campus safety profile.

Every reporting institution in Vermont is listed below. Here is how their enrollments spread:

Vermont enrollment distribution

Clery-reported enrollment · 15 Vermont institutions · 2024

57 Top 100% higher than 0% of 15 Vermont institutions

Show national distribution 0–2,000: 9 Vermont institutions (60%). This entry sits in this band. 2,000–4,000: 3 Vermont institutions (20%). Above this entry. 4,000–6,000: 2 Vermont institutions (13%). Above this entry. 6,000–8,000: 0 Vermont institutions (0%). Above this entry. 8,000–10,000: 0 Vermont institutions (0%). Above this entry. 10,000–12,000: 0 Vermont institutions (0%). Above this entry. 12,000–14,000: 0 Vermont institutions (0%). Above this entry. 14,000–16,000: 1 Vermont institutions (7%). Above this entry. Smallest on list 0 16,000 every Vermont institution, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more Vermont institutions. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Department of Education, OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey · 2024

All 15 ranked institutions in Vermont

4
Champlain College Burlington, VT · Private nonprofit
Enrollment
3,259
Incidents /1k
2.45
5
Norwich University Northfield, VT · Private nonprofit
Enrollment
3,149
Incidents /1k
4.76
6
Middlebury College Middlebury, VT · Private nonprofit
Enrollment
2,803
Incidents /1k
10.70
8
Bennington College Bennington, VT · Private nonprofit
Enrollment
927
Incidents /1k
63.65
10
Landmark College Putney, VT · Private nonprofit
Enrollment
672
Incidents /1k
11.90
15
Sterling College Craftsbury Common, VT · Private nonprofit
Enrollment
57
Incidents /1k
35.09
# Institution EnrollmentIncidents /1k
1 University of Vermont Burlington, VT · Public 14,476 100% of the leader · rank #1 2.63
2 Vermont State University Randolph, VT · Public 5,093 35% of the leader · rank #2 4.71
3 Community College of Vermont Montpelier, VT · Public 5,028 35% of the leader · rank #3 0.00
4 Champlain College Burlington, VT · Private nonprofit 3,259 23% of the leader · rank #4 2.45
5 Norwich University Northfield, VT · Private nonprofit 3,149 22% of the leader · rank #5 4.76
6 Middlebury College Middlebury, VT · Private nonprofit 2,803 19% of the leader · rank #6 10.70
7 Saint Michael's College Colchester, VT · Private nonprofit 1,323 9% of the leader · rank #7 10.58
8 Bennington College Bennington, VT · Private nonprofit 927 6% of the leader · rank #8 63.65
9 Vermont Law and Graduate School South Royalton, VT · Private nonprofit 722 5% of the leader · rank #9 0.00
10 Landmark College Putney, VT · Private nonprofit 672 5% of the leader · rank #10 11.90
11 SIT Graduate Institute Brattleboro, VT · Private nonprofit 644 4% of the leader · rank #11 0.00
12 Vermont College of Fine Arts Montpelier, VT · Private nonprofit 190 4% of the leader · rank #12 0.00
13 Advanced Welding Institute South Burlington, VT · Private for-profit 104 4% of the leader · rank #13 0.00
14 O'Briens Aveda Institute Williston, VT · Private for-profit 80 4% of the leader · rank #14 0.00
15 Sterling College Craftsbury Common, VT · Private nonprofit 57 4% of the leader · rank #15 35.09

What to do with this

Size is a starting filter for Vermont, not a verdict on any institution.

Institutions below the reporting floor, or without enrolment in the Campus Safety and Security Survey cohort for 2024, do not appear on this list. IPEDS supplies classification and location.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education Campus Safety and Security Survey (enrollment and Clery disclosures), joined to the IPEDS institutional directory (location and classification)

Every figure on PlainCampus is rendered directly from federal Clery Act source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Every figure on this page is computed at request time from the federal source tables; no ranking position or count is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-10-26.

PlainCampus is for informational purposes only and does not constitute safety, security, legal, or enrollment advice; the data describes reported on-campus activity, it is not a complete picture of safety at any campus and cannot predict any individual student's experience. See our appropriate use guidance.