Number and percentage distribution of degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by type of degree and racial/ethnic group: Academic years 1990–91, 1995–96, and 2005

Student Effort and Educational Progress: Tables

Completions

Table 26-2. Number and percentage distribution of degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by type of degree and racial/ethnic group: Academic years 1990–91, 1995–96, and 2005–06

	1990–91		1995–96		2005–06		Percent change
Characteristic	Number	Percent of total	Number	Percent of total	Number	Percent of total	1990–91 to 1995–96	1995–96 to 2005–06	1990–91 to 2005–06

Associate’s	481,720	100.0	555,216	100.0	713,066	100.0	15.3	28.4	48.0
White	391,264	81.2	426,106	76.7	485,297	68.1	8.9	13.9	24.0
Total minority	83,503	17.3	118,979	21.4	214,391	30.1	42.5	80.2	156.7
Black	38,835	8.1	52,014	9.4	89,784	12.6	33.9	72.6	131.2
Hispanic	25,540	5.3	38,254	6.9	80,854	11.3	49.8	111.4	216.6
Asian/Pacific Islander	15,257	3.2	23,138	4.2	35,201	4.9	51.7	52.1	130.7
American Indian/Alaska Native	3,871	0.8	5,573	1.0	8,552	1.2	44.0	53.5	120.9
Nonresident alien	6,953	1.4	10,131	1.8	13,378	1.9	45.7	32.1	92.4

Bachelor’s	1,094,538	100.0	1,164,792	100.0	1,485,242	100.0	6.4	27.5	35.7
White	914,093	83.5	905,846	77.8	1,075,561	72.4	-0.9	18.7	17.7
Total minority	150,829	13.8	221,256	19.0	363,324	24.5	46.7	64.2	140.9
Black	66,375	6.1	91,496	7.9	142,420	9.6	37.8	55.7	114.6
Hispanic	37,342	3.4	58,351	5.0	107,588	7.2	56.3	84.4	188.1
Asian/Pacific Islander	42,529	3.9	64,433	5.5	102,376	6.9	51.5	58.9	140.7
American Indian/Alaska Native	4,583	0.4	6,976	0.6	10,940	0.7	52.2	56.8	138.7
Nonresident alien	29,616	2.7	37,690	3.2	46,357	3.1	27.3	23.0	56.5

Master’s	337,168	100.0	406,301	100.0	594,065	100.0	20.5	46.2	76.2
White	261,232	77.5	298,133	73.4	393,357	66.2	14.1	31.9	50.6
Total minority	38,331	11.4	60,258	14.8	128,947	21.7	57.2	114.0	236.4
Black	16,616	4.9	25,822	6.4	58,976	9.9	55.4	128.4	254.9
Hispanic	8,887	2.6	14,442	3.6	32,438	5.5	62.5	124.6	265.0
Asian/Pacific Islander	11,650	3.5	18,216	4.5	34,029	5.7	56.4	86.8	192.1
American Indian/Alaska Native	1,178	0.3	1,778	0.4	3,504	0.6	50.9	97.1	197.5
Nonresident alien	37,605	11.2	47,910	11.8	71,761	12.1	27.4	49.8	90.8

First-professional¹	71,948	100.0	76,734	100.0	87,655	100.0	6.7	14.2	21.8
White	60,631	84.3	59,525	77.6	63,590	72.5	-1.8	6.8	4.9
Total minority	10,231	14.2	15,587	20.3	22,024	25.1	52.4	41.3	115.3
Black	3,588	5.0	5,022	6.5	6,223	7.1	40.0	23.9	73.4
Hispanic	2,547	3.5	3,475	4.5	4,446	5.1	36.4	27.9	74.6
Asian/Pacific Islander	3,835	5.3	6,627	8.6	10,645	12.1	72.8	60.6	177.6
American Indian/Alaska Native	261	0.4	463	0.6	710	0.8	77.4	53.3	172.0
Nonresident alien	1,086	1.5	1,622	2.1	2,041	2.3	49.4	25.8	87.9

Doctoral²	39,294	100.0	44,652	100.0	56,067	100.0	13.6	25.6	42.7
White	25,855	65.8	27,773	62.2	31,601	56.4	7.4	13.8	22.2
Total minority	3,615	9.2	5,429	12.2	8,491	15.1	50.2	56.4	134.9
Black	1,248	3.2	1,632	3.7	3,122	5.6	30.8	91.3	150.2
Hispanic	757	1.9	997	2.2	1,882	3.4	31.7	88.8	148.6
Asian/Pacific Islander	1,504	3.8	2,641	5.9	3,257	5.8	75.6	23.3	116.6
American Indian/Alaska Native	106	0.3	159	0.4	230	0.4	50.0	44.7	117.0
Nonresident alien	9,824	25.0	11,450	25.6	15,975	28.5	16.6	39.5	62.6

¹ An award that requires completion of a degree program that meets all of the following criteria: (1) completion of the academic requirements to begin practice in the profession; (2) at least 2 years of college work before entering the degree program; (3) a total of at least 6 academic years of college work to complete the degree program, including previously required college work plus the work required in the professional program itself. See glossary for a definition of first-professional degree.
² Includes Ph.D., Ed.D., and comparable degrees at the doctoral level. Excludes first-professional degrees, such as M.D., D.D.S., and law degrees.
NOTE: Reported racial/ethnic distributions of students by type of degree, field of degree, and sex were used to estimate race/ethnicity for students whose race/ethnicity was not reported. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Nonresident aliens are shown separately because information about their race/ethnicity is not available. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1990–91 through 2004–05 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, “Completions Survey” (IPEDS-C:90–99), and Fall 2000 through Fall 2006.

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