Top 100 undergraduate degree producers: interpreting the data

Diverse Issues in Higher Education, June 12, 2008 by Victor M.H. Borden

Over the past five years, the number of bachelor's degrees conferred to African-Americans by proprietary (private-for-profit) institutions increased by 150 percent or an average annual rate of 26 percent. In 2006-07, proprietary institutions accounted for fewer than one in 10 (7.2 percent) bachelor's degrees conferred to African-Americans. Both of these assertions are true but what do they tell you? It is an extremely high growth rate but still a relatively small proportion of the overall totals. Throughout my professional life as a data provider and research analyst, I have frequently been reminded that, while data is often revealing, what it conceals or obscures is often more enlightening. This brings up yet another old saw that teachers of statistics use to pique student interest in the subject: Politicians use statistics the way a drunk uses a lamp post--more for support than enlightenment.

This may seem like an odd way to start off our annual analysis of the Top 100 degrees conferred to students of color. But it brings up an important point regarding how such fists and numbers can or should be used. We justify these listings on the basis of their simplicity and objective reality (noting that there are a few rare recorded instances of human error in the collection and reporting of this information). That being said, we offer caveats such as how such numerical rankings favor larger, and therefore, often public, institutions. To compensate, we introduced in last year's edition a set of lists that were indexed to institutions size, which we continue in this year's publication.

As you read through the remainder of this article and the tables and fists that follow, be critical. Not of Diverse or of me but rather of the preliminary conclusions and observations that the numbers elicit from you.

Methodology

The tables in this edition of the Top 100 analysis reflect degrees conferred during the 2006-2007 academic year as of mid March 2008 by the vast majority of U.S. postsecondary institutions to the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through the Completions Survey of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Set (IPEDS). These preliminary data are complete and accurate for those institutions included in the analysis, which represents the vast majority of U.S. community colleges and four-year colleges and universities.

The IPEDS Completion 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.

Racial/ethnic identity is based on students' self-reports determined typically by a response from the student during his or her college career. Students are offered a set of categories from which to choose that differs 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: U.S. citizens or permanent residents are categorized as African-American and non-Hispanic, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian or Pacific Islander, Hispanic, White and non-Hispanic, and race/ethnicity unknown. All non-U.S, citizens who are not permanent residents are categorized as non-resident alien, regardless of their race/ethnicity.

As usual, we restrict our analysis to institutions located in the 50 United States and Washington, D.C. We, therefore, exclude institutions from U.S. territories and protectorates, including Puerto Rico, Guam, Formosa, etc., as well as U.S. military service schools. We also include only those institutions that are eligible for Title IV federal funding by virtue of being accredited by a regional or specialized agency that is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

The institutions appearing in the published lists are ranked according to the total number of degrees awarded to minority students across all disciplines as well as in specific disciplines. Each list provides the total for the prior year (2005-06), followed by the current year (2006-07) counts for males, females and totals. The final two columns 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 business and management, this first percentage column indicates the proportion of all business and management baccalaureate degree recipients at that institution who were African-American. The second percentage column indicates the percentage change in that minority groups' number of graduates at that institution from the prior year.

The lists containing total degrees for each and all minority groups include 100 institutions. The lists for specific disciplines contain typically, but not always, 50 institutions each. 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 may also be short because only a small number of degrees are conferred to that minority group within that discipline and/or degree level.