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Tables: Postsecondary/College


Table P183. Percentage distributions of credential-seeking undergraduate students across student sex, across parents’ highest level of education, and across student age groups, by credential goal and curricular area: 2015–16
Credential goal and curricular area Sex   Parents’ highest level of education1   Age (as of 12/31/15)   Average age
Male   Female     High school or less   Some college, no
bachelor’s degree
  Bachelor’s or
higher degree
    Younger
than 25
  25–34   35 or older    
All credential-seeking students 43.5   56.5     23.8   31.8   44.3     63.8   22.0   14.2     25.6
Subbaccalaureate credential 42.3   57.7     29.7   35.8   34.5     55.1   27.0   17.9     27.0
Occupational education 42.0   58.0     31.9   35.5   32.5     50.6   29.4   19.9     27.7
Academic education 42.5   57.5     23.8   36.2   39.9     65.1   21.7   13.2     25.4
Undecided 44.4   55.6     31.6   37.1   31.3     63.5   20.5   16.0     26.0
Certificate 40.6   59.4     32.0   34.7   33.4     44.0   31.5   24.6     29.3
Occupational education 40.4   59.6     32.8   34.8   32.4     43.9   32.1   24.1     29.1
Academic education 41.6   58.4     22.2   34.6   43.2     47.1   27.2   25.7     30.1
Undecided 46.0   54.0     42.3   26.7 ! 31.0     32.0   23.7   44.3     34.8
Associate’s degree 42.6   57.4     29.2   36.0   34.8     57.4   26.0   16.5     26.5
Occupational education 42.5   57.5     31.7   35.7   32.6     52.6   28.7   18.7     27.2
Academic education 42.6   57.4     24.0   36.3   39.7     66.3   21.3   12.4     25.1
Undecided 44.2   55.8     30.5   38.1   31.4     66.5   20.2   13.2     25.1
Bachelor’s degree 44.9   55.1     17.5   27.6   54.9     73.3   16.5   10.1     24.1
Occupational education 47.4   52.6     18.5   28.5   52.9     69.3   18.3   12.4     24.8
Academic education 40.1   59.9     15.6   25.9   58.5     80.3   13.6   6.1     22.8
Undecided 45.7   54.3     19.5   20.8   59.7     89.3   5.9   4.9     20.7
! Interpret data with caution. Estimate is unstable because the standard error is between 30 and 50 percent of the estimate.
1Excludes 0.4 percent of credential-seeking students who did not know their parents’ highest level of education.
NOTE: Occupational education consists of agriculture and natural resources; business and marketing; communication and communications technologies; computer and information sciences; consumer services (personal and culinary services; family, consumer, and human sciences; and parks, recreation, and fitness studies); education; engineering, architecture, and science technologies; health sciences; manufacturing, construction, repair, and transportation; protective services; and public, legal, and social services (legal professions and studies; library science; theology and religious vocations; and public administration and social services). Academic education consists of English/letters, foreign languages, interdisciplinary studies, liberal arts, natural sciences and mathematics, philosophy and religious studies, social and behavioral sciences (area/ethnic studies, history, international relations and affairs, political science, psychology, and other social sciences), and visual and performing arts. Data include students enrolled in Title IV eligible postsecondary institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The estimated number of credential-seeking undergraduates is approximately 18,716,000. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2015–16 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:16).