Two of three U.S. citizens or permanent residents are not people of color; that is, they are non-Hispanic Caucasians. In academic year 2006-07, 55 percent of doctoral degree recipients were in that group. Only 15 percent of doctoral degree recipients were persons of color, either U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The astute reader will read between these lines and realize that the missing group in this consideration is foreign national students. Nearly one-third (30 percent) of all doctoral degree recipients in the most recent year for which national data are available, 2006-07, were in a category the National Center for Education Statistics calls “non-resident alien” students; that is, they were not U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

In this year’s analysis of the Top 100 minority producers of postbaccalaureate degrees — master’s, first professional and doctoral degrees — we continue our tradition of celebrating the colleges and universities in the United States that confer the largest number of graduate and professional degrees to students of color. We also continue our tradition of examining in more depth certain aspects of the graduate/professional degree landscape. Specifically this year we examine minority group share of master’s, first professional and doctoral degrees, and the type of institutions from which students of color receive degrees compared to those White students choose. We use one of the new classification schemes developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. But before doing so, we are obliged to present you with some of the gory details about how these tables and analyses are derived.

Methodology

Each year, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) collects from all U.S. postsecondary institutions a wide array of data, including the number of completions (degrees and awards) conferred by race/ethnicity, gender, award level and field of study. These data become part of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Set (IPEDS). The tables in this edition of the Top 100 analysis reflect degrees conferred during the 2006-2007 academic year that have been reported as of mid March 2008. As we noted in the undergraduate Top 100 issue (see Diverse, June 12), these preliminary data are complete and accurate for those institutions included in the analysis and represent the vast majority of U.S. four-year colleges and universities.