Table 24.1. Total number, total percentage distribution, and percent female of undergraduate fall enrollment in degree-granting institutions, by race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1976

Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities

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July 2010

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Table 24.1.

Total number, total percentage distribution, and percent female of undergraduate fall enrollment in degree-granting institutions, by race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1976–2008

Race/ethnicity	1976	1980	1990	2000	2003	2005	2008
Number enrolled
Total	9,418,970	10,469,088	11,959,106	13,155,393	14,480,364	14,963,964	16,345,738
White	7,740,485	8,480,661	9,272,630	8,983,455	9,664,641	9,828,594	10,339,216
Black	943,355	1,018,840	1,147,220	1,548,893	1,838,043	1,955,356	2,269,284
Hispanic	352,893	433,075	724,561	1,351,025	1,579,783	1,733,555	2,103,524
Asian/Pacific Islander	169,291	248,711	500,486	845,545	922,749	971,353	1,117,865
American Indian/Alaska Native	69,729	77,900	95,474	138,506	157,821	160,404	175,552
Nonresident alien	143,217	209,901	218,735	287,969	317,327	314,702	360,297

Percentage distribution
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
White	82.2	81.0	77.5	68.3	66.7	65.7	63.2
Black	10.0	9.7	9.6	11.8	12.7	13.1	13.9
Hispanic	3.7	4.1	6.1	10.3	10.9	11.6	12.9
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.8	2.4	4.2	6.4	6.4	6.5	6.8
American Indian Alaska Native	0.7	0.7	0.8	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.1
Nonresident alien	1.5	2.0	1.8	2.2	2.2	2.1	2.2

Percent female
Total	48.0	52.3	55.0	56.1	57.0	57.2	56.8
White	47.6	52.2	54.9	55.4	55.9	55.9	55.5
Black	54.3	58.0	61.0	62.7	64.1	64.3	63.8
Hispanic	45.7	51.2	54.9	56.9	58.4	58.6	58.0
Asian/Pacific Islander	46.2	48.3	49.2	52.5	53.6	53.9	54.0
American Indian/Alaska Native	50.1	55.4	58.2	59.3	61.0	61.1	59.9
Nonresident alien	32.7	33.4	42.4	47.9	50.3	51.8	50.7
NOTE: Data from 1976 through 1990 are for institutions of higher education, while later data are for degree-granting institutions. Degree-granting institutions grant associate's or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. The degree-granting classification is very similar to the earlier higher education classification, but it includes more 2-year colleges and excludes a few higher education institutions that do not grant degrees. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Fall Enrollment in Colleges and Universities" surveys, 1976 and 1980, and 1990 through 2008 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Fall Enrollment" survey, 1990, and selected years, Spring 2001 through Spring 2009.