The Top 100: Interpreting the Data - university ratings - Statistical Data Included

Black Issues in Higher Education, July 19, 2001 by Victor M. H. Borden

Recent findings from the U.S. Census Bureau show a dramatic link between attaining graduate level degrees and earnings potential. The median income for people 25 to 64 years old increases from just over $21,000 for high school grads with no college experience, to about $38,000 for those whose highest degree is a bachelor's. Individuals who continue their schooling and attain a master's degree have a median income of just over $50,000. The median is even higher for those who have a doctoral degree ($65,000 for Ph.D., D.S.N., D.B.A., etc.) and a first professional degree ($72,000 for M.D., D.D.S., J.D., D.V.D., O.D., etc.). The bachelor's degree is considered by many as the ticket for entry to the middle class. Graduate level degrees provide access to more affluent circumstances.

With these findings in mind, the trends in graduate level degrees conferred to students of color are very promising, as shown in the accompanying table and chart. Since 1992-1993, master's and doctoral degrees awarded to students of color have increased by 72 percent and 55 percent respectively, outpacing the 46 percent increase in bachelor's degree conferrals. Perhaps more notably, this increase has far outpaced graduate level degree conferrals to nonminority students. Although this partly reflects population changes during this time period, it also reflects higher levels of educational attainment of minority students.

Despite these advances, there are two relatively sluggish growth areas. African American and Hispanic first professional degree conferrals, which indicate entry into high-paying professions such as medicine, dentistry and law, are not showing as robust growth. On the other hand, first professional degree conferrals to White students actually dropped by 7 percent during this time period.

These summary statistics indicate significant progress in the conferral of graduate-level degrees to students of color. The tables presented in this edition of Black Issues provide further details on conferrals for the 1999-2000 academic year, the most recent year for which information is available through the National Center for Education Statistics: In the pages that follow, you will find numerous lists that show which colleges and universities conferred the largest number of graduate-level degrees, overall and in specific disciplines and professions.

The data reported in this volume parallel the bachelor's degree findings reported in Black Issues' June 7 edition. Advances in data collection at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), allow us to bring you the preliminary data from the 1999-2000 academic year, but these advances also cost us the availability of 1998-1999 data. As a result, we can not show the prior year total and percent change from prior year in the individual lists. We also have to skip a year when reviewing aggregate trends.

This report includes a slightly larger "reporting universe" than included in prior reports. But the impact of moving from "regionally accredited" institutions to "Title IV" eligible institutions is not as notable when looking at graduate level degrees as when reviewing bachelor's -- and especially -- associate's degrees. As in prior years, this analysis considers degrees awarded by institutions that operate within the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Since the mid-90s we have been using "preliminary" national data for these lists. In fact, NCES has not finalized any degree completions data since 1996-1997. Data for the individual institutions included in the 1999-2000 preliminary file are considered complete and accurate. However, the file does not have data for some institutions. In our experience, the preliminary data files include complete and accurate data for most four-year colleges and universities.

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 1999-2000 graduates by gender. The final column of the lists shows a percentage that 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 master's degrees conferred to African Americans in business and management, the percentage indicates the proportion of all business and management master's degree recipients at that institution who were African American.

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 program completers survey conducted by the NCES. The survey requests data from each higher education campus 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 NCES. CIP codes provide a common set of categories allowing comparisons across all colleges and universities.