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Table 10. Number of persons age 18 and over who hold a bachelor's or higher degree, by field of study, sex, race/ethnicity, and age: 1996
[Numbers in thousands]

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                     |        |      Sex       |    Race/ethnicity       |             Age
           Field of study            | Total  |________________|_________________________|________________________________
                                     |        |       |        | White, |       |        |18 to 29 |30 to 49 |  50 years
                                     |        | Males |Females |Non-His-| Black |Hispanic|years old|years old|old and over
                                     |        |       |        | panic  |       |        |         |         |
_____________________________________|________|_______|________|________|_______|________|_________|_________|____________
                  1                  |   2    |   3   |   4    |   5    |   6   |   7    |    8    |    9    |     10
_____________________________________|________|_______|________|________|_______|________|_________|_________|____________
      Total population, 18 and over .|196,121 |94,092 |102,029 |148,397 |22,813 | 18,081 |  43,775 |  83,107 |     69,238
                                     |________|_______|________|________|_______|________|_________|_________|____________
  Number of persons with bachelor's  |        |       |        |        |       |        |         |         |
    or higher degree ................| 40,543 |21,084 | 19,459 | 34,090 | 2,640 |  1,515 |   6,787 |  21,976 |     11,780
  Percent of population .............|   20.7 |  22.4 |   19.1 |   23.0 |  11.6 |    8.4 |    15.5 |    26.4 |       17.0
                                     |________|_______|________|________|_______|________|_________|_________|____________
Agriculture  ........................|    484 |   421 |     63 |    414 |    18 |     27 |      51 |     276 |        156
Architecture ........................|  1,118 |   490 |    627 |    960 |    27 |     50 |     236 |     601 |        281
Business ............................|  8,019 | 5,241 |  2,778 |  6,726 |   606 |    286 |   1,333 |   4,790 |      1,897
Communications ......................|    895 |   452 |    443 |    773 |    56 |     39 |     281 |     514 |        100
Computer ............................|    913 |   621 |    292 |    704 |    91 |     41 |     172 |     659 |         83
Education ...........................|  6,785 | 1,737 |  5,049 |  5,806 |   553 |    281 |     701 |   3,315 |      2,768
Engineering .........................|  2,913 | 2,656 |    256 |  2,452 |    74 |     61 |     425 |   1,480 |      1,009
Literature ..........................|  1,093 |   315 |    777 |    955 |    46 |     46 |     231 |     491 |        370
Foreign language ....................|    297 |    79 |    218 |    246 |    11 |     18 |      56 |     126 |        114
Health sciences .....................|  1,611 |   295 |  1,316 |  1,301 |   108 |     55 |     339 |     894 |        378
Law .................................|  1,127 |   889 |    237 |  1,024 |    47 |     29 |      85 |     691 |        351
Liberal arts  .......................|  2,030 |   883 |  1,149 |  1,670 |   139 |     96 |     404 |   1,011 |        616
Mathematics .........................|    736 |   479 |    257 |    612 |    79 |     23 |     134 |     394 |        209
Medicine and dentistry ..............|    996 |   731 |    265 |    794 |     7 |     72 |      85 |     559 |        352
Natural science .....................|  1,928 | 1,092 |    835 |  1,599 |    81 |     61 |     413 |     990 |        525
Nursing, public health ..............|    424 |    65 |     359|     377|    23 |      5 |       18|     245 |        160
Philosophy ..........................|    610 |   489 |    121 |    532 |    30 |     18 |      88 |     260 |        260
Pre-professional ....................|    147 |    66 |     80 |    101 |    22 |     21 |      60 |      51 |         35
Psychology ..........................|  1,350 |   493 |    857 |  1,130 |   110 |     51 |     319 |     735 |        295
Social sciences .....................|  1,795 |   815 |    979 |  1,494 |   173 |     49 |     364 |     944 |        485
Other fields ........................|  5,273 | 2,774 |  2,500 |  4,419 |   342 |    187 |     988 |   2,947 |      1,338
                                     |========|=======|========|========|=======|========|=========|=========|============
                                     |                 Percentage distribution of degree holders, by field
                                     |____________________________________________________________________________________
      Total .........................|  100.0 | 100.0 |  100.0 |  100.0 | 100.0 |  100.0 |   100.0 |   100.0 |      100.0
                                     |________|_______|________|________|_______|________|_________|_________|____________
Agriculture  ........................|    1.2 |   2.0 |    0.3 |    1.2 |   0.7 |    1.8 |     0.8 |     1.3 |        1.3
Architecture ........................|    2.8 |   2.3 |    3.2 |    2.8 |   1.0 |    3.3 |     3.5 |     2.7 |        2.4
Business ............................|   19.8 |  24.9 |   14.3 |   19.7 |  23.0 |   18.9 |    19.6 |    21.8 |       16.1
Communications ......................|    2.2 |   2.1 |    2.3 |    2.3 |   2.1 |    2.6 |     4.1 |     2.3 |        0.8
Computer ............................|    2.3 |   2.9 |    1.5 |    2.1 |   3.4 |    2.7 |     2.5 |     3.0 |        0.7
Education ...........................|   16.7 |   8.2 |   25.9 |   17.0 |  20.9 |   18.5 |    10.3 |    15.1 |       23.5
Engineering .........................|    7.2 |  12.6 |    1.3 |    7.2 |   2.8 |    4.0 |     6.3 |     6.7 |        8.6
Literature ..........................|    2.7 |   1.5 |    4.0 |    2.8 |   1.7 |    3.0 |     3.4 |     2.2 |        3.1
Foreign language ....................|    0.7 |   0.4 |    1.1 |    0.7 |   0.4 |    1.2 |     0.8 |     0.6 |        1.0
Health sciences .....................|    4.0 |   1.4 |    6.8 |    3.8 |   4.1 |    3.6 |     5.0 |     4.1 |        3.2
Law .................................|    2.8 |   4.2 |    1.2 |    3.0 |   1.8 |    1.9 |     1.3 |     3.1 |        3.0
Liberal arts  .......................|    5.0 |   4.2 |    5.9 |    4.9 |   5.3 |    6.3 |     6.0 |     4.6 |        5.2
Mathematics .........................|    1.8 |   2.3 |    1.3 |    1.8 |   3.0 |    1.5 |     2.0 |     1.8 |        1.8
Medicine and dentistry ..............|    2.5 |   3.5 |    1.4 |    2.3 |   0.3 |    4.8 |     1.3 |     2.5 |        3.0
Natural science .....................|    4.8 |   5.2 |    4.3 |    4.7 |   3.1 |    4.0 |     6.1 |     4.5 |        4.5
Nursing, public health ..............|    1.0 |   0.3 |    1.8 |    1.1 |   0.9 |    0.3 |     0.3 |     1.1 |        1.4
Philosophy ..........................|    1.5 |   2.3 |    0.6 |    1.6 |   1.1 |    1.2 |     1.3 |     1.2 |        2.2
Pre-professional ....................|    0.4 |   0.3 |    0.4 |    0.3 |   0.8 |    1.4 |     0.9 |     0.2 |        0.3
Psychology ..........................|    3.3 |   2.3 |    4.4 |    3.3 |   4.2 |    3.4 |     4.7 |     3.3 |        2.5
Social sciences .....................|    4.4 |   3.9 |    5.0 |    4.4 |   6.6 |    3.2 |     5.4 |     4.3 |        4.1
Other fields ........................|   13.0 |  13.2 |   12.8 |   13.0 |  13.0 |   12.3 |    14.6 |    13.4 |       11.4
_____________________________________|________|_______|________|________|_______|________|_________|_________|____________

NOTE: Data are based on a sample survey of the civilian noninstitutional population. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Survey of Income and Program Participatin, unpublished data. (This table was prepared April 2001.)

National Center for Education Statistics - http://nces.ed.gov
U.S. Department of Education