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Highest Representation of Racial and Ethnic Groups at Liberal-Arts Colleges, Fall 2015

Analysis by Ruth Hammond
March 5, 2017

Soka University of America, the liberal-arts institution that had the highest percentage of Asian students in the fall of 2015, is a nonsectarian university in Southern California that was founded on Buddhist principles. Martin University, which had the greatest representation of African-Americans, was created in Indianapolis in 1977 with the mission of serving low-income, minority, and adult learners. Alice Lloyd College, in Kentucky, which had the highest percentage of white students, was founded in 1923 to cultivate community leaders in the Appalachian region. After non-Hispanic whites, who represented nearly three-quarters of all students at liberal-arts colleges, Hispanics had the highest overall representation, at 8.5 percent.

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Soka University of America, the liberal-arts institution that had the highest percentage of Asian students in the fall of 2015, is a nonsectarian university in Southern California that was founded on Buddhist principles. Martin University, which had the greatest representation of African-Americans, was created in Indianapolis in 1977 with the mission of serving low-income, minority, and adult learners. Alice Lloyd College, in Kentucky, which had the highest percentage of white students, was founded in 1923 to cultivate community leaders in the Appalachian region. After non-Hispanic whites, who represented nearly three-quarters of all students at liberal-arts colleges, Hispanics had the highest overall representation, at 8.5 percent.

American Indian

RankInstitutionStudentsPercentage
1. Fort Lewis College 903 25.7%
2. U. of Science and Arts of Oklahoma 134 16.8%
3. U. of Minnesota at Morris 114 6.9%
4. Louisiana State U. at Alexandria 170 5.7%
5. U. of Maine at Machias 24 3.7%
6. Northland College 12 2.4%
7. Westminster College 16 2.1%
8. Lyon College 13 2.0%
9. Sterling College 2 1.9%
10. Sweet Briar College 5 1.6%

All 215 colleges 2,469 0.7%

Asian

RankInstitutionStudentsPercentage
1. Soka U. of America 74 30.0%
2. Wellesley College 533 26.5%
3. Harvey Mudd College 166 24.6%
4. Pacific Union College 298 21.2%
5. Swarthmore College 269 19.8%
6. East-West U. 98 18.5%
7. Scripps College 159 18.4%
8. Pomona College 228 16.5%
9. Amherst College 244 15.8%
10. Barnard College 356 15.3%

All 215 colleges 15,376 4.7%

Black or African-American

RankInstitutionStudentsPercentage
1. Martin U. 324 93.4%
2. East-West U. 307 57.9%
3. Bloomfield College 991 55.4%
4. Pine Manor College 125 43.3%
5. Wesleyan College 218 40.4%
6. William Peace U. 370 39.2%
7. Agnes Scott College 294 37.2%
8. Oglethorpe U. 209 26.8%
9. Virginia Wesleyan College 345 26.1%
10. LaGrange College 262 25.7%

All 215 colleges 24,707 7.5%

Hispanic

RankInstitutionStudentsPercentage
1. Whittier College 895 42.7%
2. Schreiner U. 419 34.6%
3. Antioch U. at Santa Barbara 110 31.2%
4. Pacific Union College 435 30.9%
5. South U. at Austin 98 29.9%
6. Bloomfield College 518 28.9%
7. Providence Christian College 38 27.5%
8. Pine Manor College 68 23.5%
9. Southwestern U. 328 22.5%
10. Manhattanville College 366 21.5%

All 215 colleges 28,086 8.5%

Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander

RankInstitutionStudentsPercentage
1. Pacific Union College 25 1.8%
2. Providence Christian College 2 1.4%
3. College of Idaho 10 1.1%
4. Antioch U. at Santa Barbara (Calif.) 3 0.8%
5. Southern Virginia U. 6 0.8%
6. Linfield College 12 0.8%
7. King’s College (N.Y.) 3 0.8%
8. Virginia Military Institute 12 0.7%
9. Houghton College 5 0.5%
10. Saint John’s U. (Minn.) 9 0.5%

All 215 colleges 360 0.1%

White

RankInstitutionStudentsPercentage
1. Alice Lloyd College 586 96.7%
2. Bethany Lutheran College 464 92.2%
3. Saint Anselm College 1,596 92.1%
4. Concordia College at Moorhead 1,827 91.8%
5. Marlboro College 145 91.8%
6. Westminster College 1,014 91.8%
7. Simpson College 1,457 91.7%
8. Davis & Elkins College 511 91.6%
9. Sterling College 97 91.5%
10. U. of Pittsburgh at Johnstown 2,461 91.5%

All 215 colleges 245,967 74.6%

2 or more races

RankInstitutionStudentsPercentage
1. Linfield College 213 12.5%
2. U. of Minnesota at Morris 202 10.9%
3. Pitzer College 99 9.3%
4. Occidental College 186 9.2%
5. Colorado College 193 9.1%
6. U. of Puget Sound 232 8.4%
7. Harvey Mudd College 66 8.0%
8. Scripps College 79 8.0%
9. Willamette U. 215 7.8%
10. Swarthmore College 120 7.6%

All 215 colleges 12,678 3.5%

Note: Data cover baccalaureate colleges in the United States that have a focus on arts and sciences, as classified by the 2015 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education; that are eligible to participate in Title IV federal financial-aid programs; and that are not historically black colleges and universities. Most of the 215 liberal-arts colleges are private nonprofit institutions, but 23 are public. All students, full and part time, graduate and undergraduate, who were enrolled in the fall of 2015 were counted. Students of unknown race and nonresident aliens were excluded from the totals before the percentages for each racial or ethnic group were calculated. Percentages were rounded, but institutions were ranked before rounding.

Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data</p>

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A version of this article appeared in the March 10, 2017, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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