For the seventh consecutive year, the publishers of Black Issues
have asked me to to produce lists of the institutions that confer the
largest number of degrees to students of color in the United States.
These simple lists are presented with the objective of bringing
national attention to those institutions that contribute, in raw
numbers, to the educational attainment of members of ethnic and racial
minorities.
As the National Center for Education Statistics continues in its
effort to provide data in a more timely fashion, we faced the mixed
blessing of having a more abundant set of data to choose from than had
been available to us in years past. Consistent with last year’s
rankings, we are releasing numbers from a preliminary file that is in
the final stages of completion: data reflecting degree production
during the 1995-96 academic year. In addition, we are providing, where
available, data from an early release version of degrees conferred for
1996-97.
This edition, the first of two Top 100 BI issues, focuses on
associate and baccalaureate degrees. The upcoming BI edition will focus
on graduate and professional degrees.
As in prior years, we restrict this analysis to degrees awarded by
accredited colleges and universities in the fifty U.S. states and the
District of Columbia. The institutions are ranked according to the
total number of degrees awarded to minority students across all
disciplines and in specific disciplines. Excluded from this analysis
are colleges and universities in Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and
other commonwealths and protectorates, as well as postsecondary
institutions within the fifty states and Washington, D.C., that are not
accredited at the college level by an agency recognized by the United
States Secretary of Education.
Source of Data
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 completers survey conducted by the Office of
Educational Research and Improvement (OERI). 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 the National Center for
Educational Statistics (NCES). CIP codes provide a common set of
categories allowing comparisons across all colleges and universities.
A student’s minority status is typically determined 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 of degrees to the
federal government, institutions must “map” their categories to the
standard federal categories: nonresident 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.
