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Research
The Top 100:
Interpreting the Data
By Dr. Victor M. H. Borden and Pamela C. Brown
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The stakes seem to get larger every year. Never before in U.S. history has the quality of our lives as individuals, as communities, and as a society, depended more on the education of the populace. College degrees have replaced the high school diploma as the ticket for entry (or sustained participation) in the middle class. The technology explosion has brought into our lives an overabundance of information, which provides as many opportunities for growth as for decline. As the U.S. Supreme Court considers landmark cases that will affect for years the inclusiveness of our higher education institutions, we celebrate through this analysis, the hundreds of thousands of students of color who each year join the college-educated ranks of their communities. More so than ever, we must be vigilant to watch the trends that emerge from these data.
Current trends are mostly positive. Degrees conferred to minorities continue to grow and the gap in attainment between White students and students of color continues to lessen, albeit at a rate too slow to imagine the complete closure of the gap anytime in the foreseeable future. Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) continue to play a central role in graduating students of color, but their stable enrollment and graduation trends stand in contrast to other growing sectors of higher education.
Source of data
This year’s Top 100 edition focuses on degrees conferred during the 2001-2002 academic year. As in past years, this is not a “final release” from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The preliminary data are complete and accurate for those institutions included in the analysis. In our experience, the preliminary data files include complete and accurate data for most community colleges, four-year colleges and universities.
The data for this study come from the U.S. Department of Education. It is collected through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) program completer’s survey conducted by the NCES. The survey requests data on the number of degrees and other formal awards conferred in academic, vocational and continuing professional education programs. Institutions report their data according to the Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) codes developed by NCES. CIP codes provide a common set of categories allowing comparisons across all colleges and universities.
The lists included in this analysis are based on students’ racial or ethnic status. This status is determined typically by a self-reported response from the student during his or her college career. Students are offered a set of categories from which to choose. The number and labels of these categories differ from one institution to another. However, when reporting enrollment or degrees to the federal government, institutions must “map” their categories to the standard federal categories: non-resident alien; Black, non-Hispanic; American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian or Pacific Islander; Hispanic; White, non-Hispanic; and race/ethnicity unknown. The “minority” categories — Black, non-Hispanic; American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian or Pacific Islander; and Hispanic — include only U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
The single category selection method will continue to be a part of the degree completion data for at least a few more years. While the federal government agencies are in the process of moving to a new method for collecting information on race/ethnicity, the new method has not yet been implemented as part of these postsecondary surveys.
Structure of Tables
The institutions appearing in the published lists are ranked according to the total number of degrees awarded to minority students across all disciplines and in specific disciplines. The lists include a breakdown of 2001-2002 graduates by gender. The final two columns of the lists show two percentages. The first percentage indicates how the number of the minority category degree recipients compares to all degree recipients at that institution within that discipline. For example, in the listing of baccalaureates conferred to African Americans in mathematics, the percentage indicates the proportion of all mathematics baccalaureate degree recipients at that institution who were African American. The second of these columns indicates the percentage change in that minority group’s number of graduates at that institution from the prior year (2000-2001).
There are 100 institutions on the lists that combine all minority groups and disciplines by degree level. The lists for specific minority groups and for specific disciplines contain as many as 50 institutions each. One exception to this is the listing of Top 100 baccalaureate degrees conferred to African Americans by HBCUs and Traditional White Institutions (TWIs). A given list may have slightly fewer or more institutions because of ties in the rankings. For example, if there are four institutions that fall into the 48th ranked slot, then the list includes all of them, bringing the total number of institutions listed to 52. If, however, 10 institutions are tied in the 48th rank, all are excluded and so the list falls short at 47. A specific list also may be short because only a small number of degrees are conferred to that minority group within that discipline and/or degree level.
Comparing HBCUs and TWIs
As in previous Top 100 editions, we continue to monitor several overall trends. One trend that we’ve been following over the years is the number and proportion of baccalaureate degrees conferred to African Americans at HBCUs. Display 1 (see pg. 31) shows a notable trend of increasing numbers of degrees conferred to African Americans at TWIs with a stable trend in the numbers conferred at HBCUs. This trend reflects the stable number of HBCU institutions, which have numbered about 100 all through this time period, contrasted with a steadily growing number of other colleges and universities.
Despite this trend, HBCUs still account for a disproportional percentage of degrees conferred to African Americans. HBCUs account for just over one out of eight African American undergraduate enrollments but almost one-quarter of all baccalaureate degrees conferred to African American students. This statistic was first noted in one of the first Top 100 publications from the early 1990s. This year, we consider several nuances related to these statistics.
Display 2 shows the percentage of African American undergraduate enrollment and baccalaureate degrees conferred at HBCUs within each of the general categories of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s higher education institutional classification system (commonly known as the “Carnegie Classification”). This system primarily distinguishes institutions by highest degree level. The “All Other” category includes a combination of specialized institutions (e.g., medical schools) and tribal colleges.
Among doctoral- and master’s-level HBCUs, African American students comprise close to 90 percent of all undergraduate students and baccalaureate degrees. African Americans constitute the vast majority, but slightly lower proportions of students at HBCUs that are classified at the bachelor’s level or among “all other” institutions. The 11 associate level HBCUs enroll slightly less than a majority of African American students. However, they do not confer any baccalaureate degrees.
Overall, African Americans represent one in 10 undergraduates enrolled at TWIs, and about one in 14 bachelor’s degree recipients. Their representation is similar across institutions classified at the bachelor’s level or higher. As we noted in last year’s analysis, the small but growing number of associate-level institutions that offer bachelor’s degrees are conferring these degrees to disproportionately high numbers of minority students. This shows up in Display 2, where African Americans represent over one in eight enrollments, but nearly one in five of the bachelor’s degrees conferred.
Display 2 also reveals a large difference in the distribution of HBCUs and TWIs across the Carnegie Classification categories. Almost half of all HBCUs are bachelor’s-level institutions, whereas nearly half of all TWIs fall into the “all other” category. HBCUs also are over-represented among the master’s-level category and TWIs among the associate’s-level category. Taken together, over three-quarters of all HBCUs are bachelor’s and master’s-level institutions, whereas over three-quarters of TWIs occupy the associate and “all other” categories.
The large number of associate and “all other” institutions is responsible for a curious result shown in Display 3. The left columns of the display show how the associate’s and “all other” institutions account for over one-half of the enrollments, but less than 10 percent of baccalaureate degrees conferred to African Americans. On the other hand, doctoral- and master’s-level institutions combine for a total of 40 percent of African American undergraduate enrollments but almost 80 percent of all degrees. The right side of Display 3 shows, in the first row, that HBCUs enroll 13 percent of all African American undergraduates, but confer 23 percent of all baccalaureate degrees awarded to African Americans. The remaining rows of Display 3 show that within each category, the percentage of African Americans enrolled as undergraduates, and the percentage obtaining baccalaureate degrees are very similar.
This apparent aberration is due to the differential weighting for each category as determined by the percent distributions on the left side of the table. That is, the small percentages of degrees awarded at HBCUs among the associate’s 2 percent and all other 1 percent category institutions contribute 42 percent and 10 percent, respectively to the overall average. At the same time, the 11 percent of degrees awarded to African Americans at doctoral HBCUs and 28 percent as master’s-level HBCUs are weighted 37 percent and 42 percent, respectively in determining the overall average.
In addition to shedding further light on the differential distribution of enrollments and degrees across institution type, this analysis also highlights the relatively large number of HBCUs within the bachelor’s classification. Display 2 shows that almost half of all HBCUs are classified as bachelor’s-level institutions. In Display 3, we see that within the category, HBCUs account for close to one-half of all African American undergraduate enrollments and baccalaureate degree conferrals within this classification category. Since African Americans are represented in relatively high proportions among non-HBCU associates-level institutions, HBCUs clearly provide a mechanism for increasing representation, and degree attainment at the baccalaureate level.
Top Disciplines
The last table of this year’s analysis examines the roll of HBCUs in conferring baccalaureate degrees to African Americans in the “STEM” disciplines (science, technology, engineering and math). Display 4 shows that nearly one in five baccalaureate degrees conferred to African Americans at HBCUs are in one of the STEM disciplines. Moreover, the conferral rate does not differ between African Americans and other students obtaining baccalaureate degrees from HBCUs. In contrast, only one in eight African Americans receives a baccalaureate degree in a STEM discipline from other types of institutions — and this percentage is less than the STEM degree conferral rate for other students. This pattern holds across bachelor’s level and higher institutions of the Carnegie Classification categories. Only among the associate’s and “all other” non-HBCU institutions, where the number of baccalaureate degrees conferred is relatively small, do African Americans receive proportionately more STEM-discipline degrees.
Display 4 also further illustrates the gender difference in STEM-baccalaureate degree conferrals by Carnegie Classification among HBCU and all other institutions. Generally, men earn proportionately more degrees in these disciplines than do women. Once again, we see that the general rate of conferral is higher for both male and female African Americans at HBCU institutions. We also see that the gap in conferral between African Americans and other students in “all other institutions” occurs for men, but not women.
This year’s analysis adds two general insights to our prior explorations of the role of HBCUs. First, we see that HBCUs contribute disproportionately to bachelor’s degree attainment for minorities, because they provide access to higher-level degrees than do the TWIs and other non-HBCUs in which African Americans enroll in greatest number (that is, associates-level institutions). In addition, this analysis reveals that HBCUs have greater success than TWIs in graduating African Americans in the STEM disciplines, which, in turn, provide access to careers in which African Americans continue to be underrepresented. In the forthcoming graduate degree Top 100 edition we will examine further the role of HBCUs in promoting access among African Americans to professional and academic careers.
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ASSOCIATE'S DEGREES, 2001/2002
All Disciplines Combined
Total Minority Associate's
BACCALAUREATE DEGREES, 2001/2002
Area / Ethnic Studies
American Indian Baccalaureate
Hispanic Baccalaureate
African American Baccalaureate
Asian American Baccalaureate
Total Minority Baccalaureate
Business
American Indian Baccalaureate
Hispanic Baccalaureate
African American Baccalaureate
Asian American Baccalaureate
Total Minority Baccalaureate
Education
Indian American Baccalaureate
Hispanic Baccalaureate
African American Baccalaureate
Asian American Baccalaureate
Total Minority Baccalaureate
English Language and Letters
African American Baccalaureate
Asian American Baccalaureate
Indian American Baccalaureate
Hispanic Baccalaureate
Total Minority Baccalaureate
Physical Sciences
African American Baccalaureate
Hispanic Baccalaureate
Asian American Baccalaureate
Total Minority Baccalaureate
All Disciplines Combined
African American Baccalaureate
Asian American Baccalaureate
Total Minority Baccalaureate
African American Baccalaureate - HBCUs vs. TWIs
American Indian Baccalaureate
Hispanic Baccalaureate
Biological and Life Sciences
African American Baccalaureate
Asian American Baccalaureate
Total Minority Baccalaureate
American Indian Baccalaureate
Hispanic Baccalaureate
Computer and Information Science
African American Baccalaureate
Asian American Baccalaureate
Total Minority Baccalaureate
Hispanic Baccalaureate
Indian American Baccalaureate
Engineering
African American Baccalaureate
Asian American Baccalaureate
Total Minority Baccalaureate
Indian American Baccalaureate
Hispanic Baccalaureate
Mathematics
African American Baccalaureate
Hispanic Baccalaureate
Asian American Baccalaureate
Total Minority Baccalaureate
Social Sciences and History
African American Baccalaureate
Asian American Baccalaureate
Total Minority Baccalaureate
American Indian Baccalaureate
Hispanic Baccalaureate
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