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Digest of Education Statistics
2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 212. Enrollment in postsecondary education, by major field of study, age, and level of student: 1999-2000

______________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                       |     All students                                       |                                            Undergraduate                                                        |Graduate
                                       |______________ _________________________________________|_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________|and first-
                 Field                 |    Total,    |  Percentage distribution, by age        |               2-year institutions\1\                     |                          4-year institutions         |professional
               of study                |     in       |_________________________________________|__________________________________________________________|______________________________________________________|_____________
                                       |  thousands   |             |             |             |  Total,      |Percentage distribution, by age            |  Total,      |Percentage distribution, by age        |  Total,
                                       |              | Under       |  25         | Over        |   in         |___________________________________________|   in         |_______________________________________|   in
                                       |              |  25         | to 34       |  35         |thousands     | Under        |  25         | Over         |thousands     |Under       |  25        | Over        |thousands
                                       |              |             |             |             |              |  25          | to 34       |  35          |              |  25        |to 34       |  35         |
                                       |              |             |             |             |              |              |             |              |              |            |            |             |
_______________________________________|______________|_____________|_____________|_____________|______________|______________|_____________|______________|______________|____________|____________|_____________|_____________
                   1                   |       2      |      3      |      4      |      5      |       6      |      7       |      8      |      9       |      10      |    11      |    12      |     13      |     14
                                       |______________|_____________|_____________|_____________|______________|______________|_____________|______________|______________|____________|____________|_____________|_____________
                                       |              |             |             |             |              |              |             |              |              |            |            |             |
Total .................................| 19,197    (1)|  55.3  (0.6)|  24.5  (0.3)|  20.2  (0.4)|  8,418    (7)|  50.3   (1.0)|  24.7  (0.6)|  25.1   (0.6)|  8,121   (34)| 72.9  (0.3)| 16.2  (0.2)|  11.0  (0.2)| 2,658   (31)
                                       |              |             |             |             |              |              |             |              |              |            |            |             |
Agriculture  ..........................|    136    (8)|  75.9  (1.9)|  16.7  (2.1)|   7.5  (1.1)|     38    (5)|  71.0   (5.2)|  13.8  (2.5)|  15.2   (4.9)|     80    (6)| 88.9  (2.2)|  9.3  (1.6)|   1.8  (1.2)|    17    (2)
Architecture/city planning  ...........|     98    (4)|  66.2  (3.4)|  25.4  (4.3)|   8.4  (2.2)|     27    (3)|  65.9   (7.3)|  22.3  (8.4)|  11.7   (2.7)|     57    (7)| 78.2  (4.7)| 15.9  (4.2)|   5.8  (2.8)|    14    (2)
Area studies  .........................|     17    (3)|  56.4  (8.3)|  24.3  (6.8)|  19.3  (6.2)|              |              |             |              |     10    (2)| 83.1  (5.2)| 11.0  (3.8)|   5.9  (5.1)|         
Business  .............................|  2,949   (39)|  52.9  (1.1)|  25.7  (0.4)|  21.5  (0.9)|  1,117   (32)|  49.1   (2.3)|  24.4  (0.7)|  26.5   (2.3)|  1,439   (20)| 66.9  (0.7)| 17.8  (0.6)|  15.3  (0.7)|   393   (23)
Communications/journalism  ............|    454   (28)|  73.8  (1.7)|  16.0  (0.9)|  10.2  (1.3)|    106   (11)|  59.8   (4.5)|  20.0  (3.3)|  20.2   (3.0)|    316   (21)| 84.2  (1.9)| 11.2  (1.3)|   4.5  (0.8)|    32    (2)
                                       |              |             |             |             |              |              |             |              |              |            |            |             |
Computer science  .....................|  1,297   (50)|  44.6  (1.5)|  28.4  (1.1)|  27.1  (1.5)|    774   (42)|  38.2   (1.8)|  27.9  (1.2)|  33.9   (2.3)|    439   (25)| 61.2  (2.4)| 24.2  (1.9)|  14.6  (1.3)|    85    (5)
Cosmotology  ..........................|    127   (29)|  53.5  (4.4)|  30.3  (4.7)|  16.2  (1.9)|    125   (29)|  53.3   (4.1)|  30.7  (4.9)|  16.0   (2.2)|              |            |            |             |         
Education  ............................|  1,646   (25)|  44.4  (1.2)|  27.5  (0.5)|  28.2  (1.0)|    406   (32)|  52.9   (1.6)|  20.3  (1.7)|  26.8   (2.1)|    674   (18)| 69.2  (1.6)| 17.0  (0.5)|  13.8  (1.4)|   566   (14)
Engineering  ..........................|    751   (21)|  61.8  (1.0)|  25.0  (1.2)|  13.2  (0.8)|    239   (13)|  50.8   (2.2)|  25.9  (2.3)|  23.2   (1.9)|    418   (15)| 77.4  (1.3)| 16.2  (1.1)|   6.3  (0.6)|    94    (5)
Foreign language  .....................|     94   (11)|  57.8  (2.3)|  25.4  (2.6)|  16.8  (1.8)|              |              |             |              |     56    (4)| 78.7  (5.1)| 14.0  (4.0)|   7.3  (1.8)|    18    (2)
                                       |              |             |             |             |              |              |             |              |              |            |            |             |
Health  ...............................|  1,955   (77)|  50.9  (0.6)|  28.3  (0.6)|  20.8  (0.9)|  1,047   (56)|  46.4   (0.9)|  29.5  (1.1)|  24.0   (1.1)|    653   (19)| 66.1  (1.4)| 20.6  (1.0)|  13.3  (1.3)|   255   (16)
Medicine/dentistry  ...................|    112    (9)|  38.7  (4.0)|  53.8  (4.4)|   7.6  (1.0)|              |              |             |              |              |            |            |             |    97    (8)
Home economics  .......................|    163   (25)|  49.8  (4.0)|  22.0  (5.9)|  28.2  (3.8)|    104   (21)|  41.1   (4.3)|  27.0  (7.3)|  31.9   (6.1)|     52    (6)| 72.2  (4.6)| 12.1  (4.3)|  15.7  (2.8)|         
Industrial arts  ......................|    256   (28)|  44.3  (2.3)|  28.1  (2.2)|  27.6  (1.9)|    220   (27)|  41.9   (2.7)|  28.7  (2.7)|  29.4   (2.1)|     33    (3)| 62.8  (3.0)| 23.2  (7.1)|  14.0  (5.6)|         
Interdisciplinary science  ............|    224   (13)|  58.0  (2.8)|  24.0  (1.5)|  18.0  (2.9)|     98   (14)|  55.7   (6.7)|  24.6  (3.6)|  19.7   (7.1)|     94    (6)| 73.2  (2.8)| 15.6  (4.0)|  11.2  (2.2)|    31    (3)
                                       |              |             |             |             |              |              |             |              |              |            |            |             |
Law  ..................................|    318   (18)|  47.7  (2.4)|  34.6  (1.5)|  17.7  (1.4)|    123    (8)|  50.1   (5.8)|  23.2  (3.4)|  26.7   (3.7)|     63    (4)| 66.0  (2.9)| 22.0  (3.0)|  12.0  (2.0)|   132   (11)
Letters/liberal studies  ..............|  1,291   (41)|  60.0  (2.5)|  21.2  (1.4)|  18.8  (1.5)|    845   (43)|  56.9   (3.3)|  22.7  (1.9)|  20.4   (2.0)|    387   (17)| 73.5  (1.7)| 13.8  (1.1)|  12.7  (1.0)|    59    (4)
Library science  ......................|     29    (2)|   3.0  (2.2)|  38.2  (3.9)|  58.8  (5.5)|              |              |             |              |              |            |            |             |    21    (3)
Life sciences  ........................|    538   (11)|  75.6  (0.8)|  18.3  (0.8)|   6.1  (0.7)|     92   (12)|  68.6   (2.4)|  23.3  (2.4)|   8.1   (1.7)|    381    (7)| 85.6  (1.1)| 10.5  (0.6)|   3.9  (0.9)|    64    (6)
Mathematics  ..........................|    132    (7)|  60.7  (3.8)|  23.2  (1.5)|  16.1  (4.0)|     43    (3)|  45.1  (10.8)|  28.6  (3.4)|  26.4  (10.3)|     64    (4)| 85.6  (3.1)| 11.0  (3.3)|   3.4  (1.1)|    25    (2)
                                       |              |             |             |             |              |              |             |              |              |            |            |             |
Mechanics/transportation  .............|    258   (20)|  47.6  (2.4)|  26.6  (1.9)|  25.8  (2.3)|    214   (21)|  45.4   (2.8)|  26.3  (2.1)|  28.3   (2.5)|     39    (6)| 63.7  (3.2)| 23.9  (2.7)|  12.4  (2.9)|         
Philosophy and religion  ..............|    272   (32)|  42.5  (1.5)|  29.9  (3.7)|  27.6  (3.7)|     60    (9)|  43.5   (5.2)|  33.6  (9.2)|  22.8  (10.4)|    116   (16)| 70.3  (3.6)| 17.2  (2.8)|  12.6  (2.9)|    96   (14)
Physical science  .....................|    211   (10)|  63.5  (1.5)|  26.9  (1.6)|   9.6  (1.4)|     45    (5)|  60.6   (3.3)|  29.4  (4.6)|  10.0   (4.4)|    120    (9)| 79.6  (2.3)| 13.6  (1.7)|   6.9  (1.7)|    45    (2)
Protective services  ..................|    332   (19)|  61.3  (1.9)|  24.0  (1.4)|  14.7  (1.6)|    208   (12)|  55.9   (2.7)|  26.1  (2.3)|  18.1   (2.5)|    120   (12)| 72.5  (1.9)| 18.4  (1.9)|   9.1  (1.8)|         
Psychology  ...........................|    522   (19)|  69.5  (1.6)|  19.5  (1.1)|  11.0  (0.9)|    100    (8)|  76.5   (4.0)|  13.6  (3.1)|  10.0   (1.6)|    349    (9)| 78.4  (1.3)| 13.3  (1.5)|   8.2  (0.6)|    74   (12)
                                       |              |             |             |             |              |              |             |              |              |            |            |             |
Public administration/social work  ....|    248   (16)|  45.9  (3.7)|  23.7  (1.9)|  30.4  (2.4)|     91   (13)|  42.8   (9.1)|  19.7  (6.9)|  37.5   (3.5)|    105    (6)| 62.1  (2.0)| 18.6  (2.2)|  19.3  (3.1)|    51    (4)
Social sciences  ......................|    744   (18)|  70.5  (0.9)|  18.9  (0.5)|  10.7  (0.7)|    103   (11)|  61.5   (5.1)|  25.0  (2.4)|  13.6   (3.8)|    549   (14)| 81.4  (0.7)| 11.8  (0.6)|   6.8  (0.5)|    92    (5)
Visual and performing arts  ...........|  1,036   (34)|  67.8  (0.9)|  19.0  (0.9)|  13.2  (0.6)|    478   (39)|  61.3   (1.5)|  19.1  (1.5)|  19.6   (1.1)|    491   (38)| 80.5  (2.3)| 14.4  (1.7)|   5.1  (0.8)|    66   (11)
Undeclared  ...........................|  1,889   (83)|  54.7  (1.1)|  20.8  (0.9)|  24.5  (0.7)|  1,140   (83)|  50.0   (1.1)|  22.1  (1.2)|  27.9   (1.0)|    596   (18)| 73.2  (1.8)| 14.9  (1.0)|  11.9  (1.1)|   153    (7)
Other  ................................|    158   (13)|  51.6  (1.8)|  27.4  (1.6)|  21.0  (1.4)|     46    (9)|  42.5   (4.2)|  34.1  (3.9)|  23.4   (3.1)|     68    (4)| 82.9  (2.3)|  8.5  (1.8)|   8.7  (2.3)|    45    (7)
                                       |              |             |             |             |              |              |             |              |              |            |            |             |
Missing  ..............................|    943   (76)|  50.7  (2.4)|  25.2  (0.9)|  24.1  (1.9)|    493   (69)|  47.4   (3.1)|  25.3  (1.7)|  27.3   (2.0)|    342   (31)| 66.5  (2.0)| 19.0  (1.0)|  14.6  (2.1)|   108    (6)
_______________________________________|______________|_____________|_____________|_____________|______________|______________|_____________|______________|______________|____________|____________|_____________|_____________

Did not meet reporting standard.
\1\Includes less-than-2-year schools and schools not identified by level.

NOTE: Because of different survey editing and processing procedures, enrollment data in this table may differ from those appearing in other tables. Includes students who enrolled at any time during the 1999-2000 academic year. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding. Standard errors appear in parentheses.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "The 1999-2000 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study," unpublished data. (This table was prepared August 2002).


2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest