The academic program life cycle (APLC) concept states each program's life flows through several stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. A mixed-influence diffusion growth model is fitted to annual enrollment data on academic programs to analyze the factors determining progress of academic programs through their life cycles. The regression analysis yields reasonable parameter estimates, including magnitude of enrollment peaks and duration of stages, and describes growth patterns of academic programs very well. The results indicate that key factors accounting for progress of academic programs through life cycle stages are external information and word-of-mouth communication (social and behavioral factors as well as economic factors). The model's application for analyzing market dynamics and long-range forecasting is demonstrated.