Students by Gender, Race, and Ethnicity, by Sector, Fall 2010 and Fall 2016

Women, who have outnumbered men at college for four decades, continued to represent a majority of college students in the fall of 2016, but their numbers fell by nearly 100,000 from 2010. Over the same period, male enrollment grew by more than 12,000. Overall enrollment fell by more than 87,000 over the six-year period. That loss took place at two-year public institutions and two-year for-profit institutions, while enrollment in other sectors grew. The overall representation of all minorities has increased substantially from 2010 to 2016. This can largely be credited to the growth in enrollment of Hispanic students, by nearly 850,000. Asian enrollment also grew, by nearly 100,000. But three groups of minorities lost ground. The number of American Indian and Alaska Natives enrolled in college declined by 22 percent over the six-year period, the number of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders dropped by more than 7 percent, and the number of blacks fell by almost 5 percent.

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By gender and citizenship status

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By race and ethnicity

Note: This table shows all full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students at two-year and four-year degree-granting institutions in the United States that are eligible to receive Title IV federal financial aid. Figures by gender, race, and ethnicity for the fall of 2016 are compared with those for the fall of 2010, which is the earliest year for which comparable racial data were available. Percentages of nonresident aliens and people whose race or ethnicity was unknown are shown as their share of the total, but percentages of the seven racial or ethnic groups were calculated by dividing them into the total minus the numbers of nonresident aliens and people whose race was unknown. The percentages whose race was unknown, which ranged in 2016 from 2.8 percent at two-year private nonprofit institutions to 18.4 percent at four-year for-profit institutions, are not shown. “Hispanic” students may be of any race. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to the Almanac editor.

Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data