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Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in Postsecondary Education
NCES 94394
March 1994

Enrollment Postsecondary Education Institutions

Respondents were asked whether their institutions had enrolled any students in the last 4 academic years (1989-90 through 1992-93) who identified themselves to the institution as deaf or hard of hearing, and if so, how many such students had been enrolled in each of the 4 academic years. Respondents were instructed to report undergraduate and graduate/professional students separately, and to report deaf students separately from hard of hearing students if possible. If it was not possible to report deaf and hard of hearing students separately, they were asked to report these students together in a combined category.4 Information about deaf and hard of hearing students was limited to those who had identified themselves to the institution as deaf or hard of hearing, since institutions indicated that these were the only deaf and hard of hearing students about whom they could report. As stated earlier, the information presented does not include Gallaudet University and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

Percentage of Institutions Enrolling Students

About half of the nation's 5,000 2-year and 4-year postsecondary education institutions enrolled one or more students who identified themselves to the institution as deaf or hard of hearing in at least one of the last 4 academic years (Table 1). This represents about 2,350 institutions. Public institutions were much more likely than private institutions to enroll deaf and hard of hearing students (79 versus 29 percent). Almost all medium and large institutions had some deaf and hard of hearing students (93 and 97 percent respectively), compared with 33 percent of the small institutions. The proportion of institutions enrolling these students did not vary by level of the institution (2-year or 4-year) or region of the country in which the institution was located.

A smaller proportion of institutions enrolled deaf and hard of hearing students in all 4 academic years than enrolled such students in any (one or more) of the last 4 academic years. Approximately a quarter of the institutions enrolled deaf or hard of hearing students in all 4 academic years, compared with 47 percent enrolling such students in any of the last 4 academic years (Table 1). The pattern by institutional characteristics of institutions enrolling these students in all 4 academic years is similar to the pattern of institutions enrolling these students in any of the last 4 academic years.

A larger percentage of institutions enrolled students who identified themselves to the institution as deaf or hard of hearing in 1992-93 than in 1989-90 (Figure 1).5 In 1989-90, about a third of institutions enrolled students who identified themselves to the institution as deaf or hard of hearing by 1992-93, the proportion of institutions enrolling such students had risen to 41 percent.

In 1992-93,59 percent of the nation's 5,000 2-year and 4-year postsecondary education institutions did not enroll any deaf or hard of hearing students; only 9 percent enrolled 11 or more such students (Figure 2). There was some fluctuation from year to year in which institutions enrolled deaf and hard of hearing students. For example, of the 2,350 institutions that enrolled any deaf or hard of hearing students in the last 4 academic years, 13 percent did not enroll any deaf or hard of hearing students in academic year 1992-93. Thus, some institutions that had enrolled deaf and hard of hearing students in earlier years did not enroll such students in 1992-93.

Number of Students Enrolled

During the most recently completed academic year (1992-93), an estimated 20,040 students who identified themselves to the institution as deaf or hard of hearing were enrolled in 2-year and 4-year postsecondary education institutions (Table 2).6 This is an increase of approximately 3,000 students since academic year 1989-90, the first year for which information was requested by this survey. For 1992-93, institutions reported 4,520 deaf students and 7,770 hard of hearing students; 7,750 students were reported in the combined deaf or hard of hearing (i.e., the institution did not distinguish between deaf and hard of hearing) category (Table 2). Thus, for 1992-93, about a quarter of the students were reported as deaf, and a little more than a third of the students were reported as hard of hearing -- about the same proportions as for 1989-90. An average (mean) of 9.8 students identified themselves to the institution as deaf or hard of hearing at each institution that enrolled any such students in 1992-93 (not shown in tables).

Most deaf and hard of hearing students were undergraduates. Of the 20,040 such students enrolled in 1992-93, 18,600 (or 93 percent) were undergraduates, and 1,440 were graduate and professional students (Table 3).7 The proportions of undergraduate and graduate/professional deaf and hard of hearing students have remained stable since 1989-90.

In 1992-93, 2-year institutions enrolled more deaf and had of hearing students than did 4-year institutions (Table 4). Almost 9 out of 10 deaf and hard of hearing students ( 17,690 out of 20,040) attended public institutions. More deaf and hard of hearing students were enrolled in institutions in the West than in any one of the other regions. About half of the deaf and hard of hearing students (9,710 out of 20,040) attended large institutions. These patterns of differences by institutional characteristics have remained stable since 1989-90.

Table 5 shows the percentage distributions of all students enrolled at 2- year and 4-year postsecondary institutions and of students at these institutions who identified themselves to the institution as deaf or hard of hearing, presented by institutional characteristics. The distributions for institutional level are strikingly different. While 62 percent of students who identified themselves to the institution as deaf or hard of hearing attended 2-year institutions and 38 percent attended 4-year institutions, 62 percent of all students attended 4-year institutions and 38 percent attended 2-year institutions. Thus, a much higher proportion of students who identified themselves to the institution as deaf or hard of hearing than of all students attended 2-year institutions. This difference is supported by data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:90), presented in Table 5, which show that 57 percent of self reported hearing impaired students attended 2-year institutions and 43 percent attended 4-year institutions (U.S. Department of Education, October 1993).

Table 5 also shows an interesting pattern for size of the institution. While about a quarter of the deaf and hard of hearing students in the PEQIS and NPSAS:90 studies attended small institutions, 12 percent of all 2-year and 4-year postsecondary students attended small institutions. Thus, deaf and hard of hewing students were more likely than all students to attend a small institution.


4Institutions were not provided with definitions of deaf and hard of hearing for use in this survey, since there are no standard definitions or ways of classifying these two groups, However, the following general definitions may assist the reader. Hearing impaired is the generic terms used to indicate any degree of hearing loss -- from mild to profound; it includes both deaf and hard of hearing. Deafness refers to a profound degree of hearing loss that prevents understanding speech through the ear. Hard of hearing refers to a mild to moderate hearing loss that may or may not be corrected with amplification (Research and Training Center on Independent Living 1990).

5Data for all 4 academic years were reported by the institutions In Spring 1993.

6To put this number into context the National Center for Education Statistics estimates that there were 14.4 million students enrolled in 2-year and 4-year postsecondary education institutions in fall 1991 (U.S. Department of Education 1993, Table 166). This means that about one-tenth of 1 percent of the students enrolled at 2-year and 4-year postsecondary education institutions identified themselves to their institution as deaf or hard of hearing.

7About 87 percent of all 2-year and 4-year postsecondary education students in fall 1991 were undergraduates (U.S. Department of Education, June 1992).

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