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Digest of Education Statistics
2003 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 215. Enrollment in postsecondary education, by student level, type of institution, age, and major field of study: 1999-2000

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                       |                   All students                |                                    Undergraduate                                              | Graduate
                                       |_______________________________________________|_______________________________________________________________________________________________| and first-
            Field of study             |   Total,  |  Percentage distribution, by age  |           2-year institutions\1\               |                4-year institutions           | professional
                                       |    in     |___________________________________|________________________________________________|______________________________________________|_____________
                                       | thousands | Under 25  | 25 to 34  | Over 35   |   Total, |Percentage distribution, by age      |  Total,  |Percentage distribution, by age    |   Total,
                                       |           |           |           |           |    in    |_____________________________________|   in     |___________________________________|    in
                                       |           |           |           |           | thousands|  Under 25  | 25 to 34  | Over 35    |thousands |  Under 25 | 25 to 34  | Over 35   | thousands

_______________________________________|___________|___________|___________|___________|__________|____________|___________|____________|__________|___________|___________|___________|_____________
                   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)
Cosmetology  ..........................|    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)
                                       |           |           |           |           |          |            |           |            |          |           |           |           |
Unknown  ...........................   |    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, 1999-2000 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:2000), unpublished data. (This table was prepared August 2002).


2003 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest