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Digest of Education Statistics
1999 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 216  Enrollment in postsecondary education, by major field of study, age, and level of student: 1995-96

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                   |                                   |                            Undergraduate                        |
                                   |         All students              |_________________________________________________________________|Graduate and first-professional
               Field               |                                   |      2-year institutions\1\    |     4-year institutions        |
             of study              |___________________________________|________________________________|________________________________|________________________________
                                   | Total,  |Percentage distribution, |Total,|Percentage distribution, |Total,|Percentage distribution, |Total,|Percentage distribution,
                                   |   in    |         by age          |  in  |         by age          |  in  |         by age          |  in  |         by age
                                   |  thou-  |_________________________|thou- |_________________________|thou- |_________________________|thou- |_________________________
                                   |  sands  |Under 25|25 to 34|Over 35|sands |Under 25|25 to 34|Over 35|sands |Under 25|25 to 34|Over 35|sands |Under 25|25 to 34|Over 35
___________________________________|_________|________|________|_______|______|________|________|_______|______|________|________|_______|______|________|________|_______
                 1                 |    2    |   3    |   4    |   5   |  6   |   7    |   8    |   9   |  10  |   11   |   12   |  13   |  14  |   15   |   16   |  17
___________________________________|_________|________|________|_______|______|________|________|_______|______|________|________|_______|______|________|________|_______
    Total .........................|  19,444 |   53.0 |   26.3 |  20.7 |8,887 |   48.1 |   27.0 |  24.9 |7,791 |   71.4 |   17.1 |  11.5 |2,767 |   17.4 |   49.5 |  33.1
                                   |_________|________|________|_______|______|________|________|_______|______|________|________|_______|______|________|________|_______
Agriculture .......................|     204 |   65.8 |   21.1 |  13.1 |   71 |   60.5 |   21.0 |  18.5 |  109 |   80.5 |   12.0 |   7.5 |   24 |   13.7 |   63.8 |  22.5
Architecture/city planning ........|      82 |   62.8 |   32.5 |   4.6 |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\) |   50 |   89.0 |    8.8 |   2.2 |   22 |   16.3 |   73.5 |  10.2
Area studies ......................|     --- |    --- |    --- |   --- |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\) |   24 |   76.2 |   11.5 |  12.3 |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\)
Business ..........................|   2,949 |   48.7 |   29.7 |  21.6 |1,295 |   45.2 |   29.0 |  25.8 |1,233 |   64.2 |   20.8 |  15.0 |  420 |   13.9 |   58.0 |  28.1
Communications/journalism .........|     335 |   71.5 |   17.5 |  11.0 |   89 |   57.3 |   23.1 |  19.6 |  224 |   82.0 |   11.8 |   6.2 |   22 |   21.3 |   52.9 |  25.8
                                   |         |        |        |       |      |        |        |       |      |        |        |       |      |        |        |
Computer science ..................|     554 |   42.7 |   31.6 |  25.7 |  275 |   34.4 |   31.1 |  34.5 |  219 |   62.4 |   23.4 |  14.2 |   60 |    9.2 |   63.3 |  27.6
Education .........................|   1,590 |   45.0 |   27.0 |  28.0 |  337 |   63.0 |   22.2 |  14.8 |  649 |   67.0 |   17.5 |  15.5 |  604 |   11.3 |   39.9 |  48.9
Engineering .......................|   1,002 |   58.6 |   28.9 |  12.5 |  403 |   48.2 |   30.4 |  21.5 |  477 |   77.6 |   18.5 |   3.8 |  122 |   18.7 |   64.4 |  16.9
Foreign language ..................|     --- |    --- |    --- |   --- |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\) |   55 |   78.2 |   16.1 |   5.7 |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\)
Health ............................|   2,157 |   47.4 |   31.4 |  21.2 |1,273 |   42.7 |   34.4 |  22.9 |  637 |   65.9 |   19.8 |  14.3 |  247 |   23.6 |   46.1 |  30.3
                                   |         |        |        |       |      |        |        |       |      |        |        |       |      |        |        |
Medicine/dentistry ................|      83 |   43.3 |   49.9 |   6.8 |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\) |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\) |   83 |   43.3 |   49.9 |   6.8
Home economics ....................|     473 |   55.8 |   27.7 |  16.5 |  375 |   53.0 |   30.5 |  16.6 |   81 |   77.8 |   13.0 |   9.2 |   17 |   15.0 |   36.1 |  48.9
Industrial arts ...................|     210 |   53.2 |   30.0 |  16.8 |  181 |   41.9 |   33.5 |  24.7 |   28 |   81.9 |   11.0 |   7.1 |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\)
Interdisciplinary science .........|     153 |   62.8 |   22.4 |  14.9 |   37 |   73.8 |   11.7 |  14.6 |   89 |   72.8 |   17.0 |  10.2 |   27 |   14.0 |   55.1 |  30.9
Law ...............................|     636 |   53.2 |   30.0 |  16.8 |  352 |   52.2 |   27.1 |  20.6 |  142 |   69.0 |   21.0 |  10.0 |  142 |   39.6 |   46.3 |  14.1
                                   |         |        |        |       |      |        |        |       |      |        |        |       |      |        |        |
Letters/liberal studies ...........|   1,340 |   60.6 |   21.9 |  17.5 |  908 |   59.1 |   22.3 |  18.6 |  383 |   69.9 |   17.4 |  12.7 |   48 |   15.8 |   50.9 |  33.3
Library science ...................|      24 |    5.8 |   57.6 |  36.6 |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\) |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\) |   24 |    5.8 |   57.6 |  36.6
Life sciences .....................|     558 |   77.2 |   19.1 |   3.7 |  118 |   72.0 |   23.2 |   4.8 |  380 |   87.4 |   10.3 |   2.3 |   60 |   22.5 |   67.1 |  10.4
Mathematics .......................|     113 |   56.7 |   28.8 |  14.5 |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\) |   63 |   76.5 |   17.6 |   6.0 |   25 |   20.6 |   61.1 |  18.4
Mechanics/transportation ..........|     230 |   39.4 |   29.3 |  31.3 |  208 |   34.8 |   30.9 |  34.3 |   22 |   82.1 |   15.0 |   3.0 |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\)
                                   |         |        |        |       |      |        |        |       |      |        |        |       |      |        |        |
Philosophy and religion ...........|      90 |   44.6 |   33.9 |  21.5 |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\) |   46 |   71.5 |   15.0 |  13.5 |   42 |   12.5 |   56.1 |  31.4
Physical science ..................|     178 |   63.4 |   29.1 |   7.5 |(\2\) |  (\2\) |  (\2\) | (\2\) |  106 |   81.4 |   17.0 |   1.6 |   44 |   20.9 |   59.5 |  19.6
Psychology ........................|     495 |   67.4 |   21.1 |  11.5 |   84 |   69.8 |   20.8 |   9.4 |  347 |   75.3 |   15.7 |   9.1 |   65 |   21.9 |   50.8 |  27.3
Public administration/social work .|     241 |   38.7 |   34.5 |  26.8 |   59 |   39.1 |   33.5 |  27.4 |   90 |   55.0 |   20.7 |  24.2 |   93 |   22.7 |   48.4 |  29.0
Social sciences ...................|     713 |   67.3 |   21.4 |  11.3 |  122 |   65.2 |   22.0 |  12.8 |  492 |   76.9 |   15.0 |   8.2 |   99 |   22.7 |   52.4 |  24.9
                                   |         |        |        |       |      |        |        |       |      |        |        |       |      |        |        |
Visual and performing arts ........|     603 |   66.0 |   20.7 |  13.3 |  169 |   57.1 |   19.4 |  23.5 |  357 |   79.4 |   14.7 |   5.9 |   78 |   23.6 |   51.2 |  25.2
Other\3\ ..........................|     181 |   53.0 |   23.4 |  23.5 |   27 |   35.1 |   27.0 |  37.9 |  115 |   71.3 |   16.2 |  12.6 |   38 |   10.3 |   43.1 |  46.5
Undeclared ........................|   3,523 |   54.0 |   21.2 |  24.9 |2,196 |   45.5 |   23.4 |  31.1 |1,248 |   71.7 |   15.5 |  12.8 |   78 |    9.8 |   49.0 |  41.2
___________________________________|_________|________|________|_______|______|________|________|_______|______|________|________|_______|______|________|________|_______

\1\Includes less-than-2-year schools.
\2\Too few sample cases for a reliable estimate.
\3\Includes students whose classification is unknown.
---Data not available.

NOTE.--Because of different survey editing and processing procedures, enrollment data in this table may differ from those appearing in other tables. Because of rounding, details may not add to totals. Includes students who enrolled at any time during the 1995-96 academic year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "The 1995-96 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study," unpublished data. (This table was prepared November 1997).


1999 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest