NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS
          
                    E.D. TABS                March 1995
          
          
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       Enrollment in Higher Education:  Fall 1984 through Fall 1993
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                 Postsecondary Education Statistics Division
          
                                 INTRODUCTION

This E.D. TABS presents findings from two institutional-based postsecondary 
education fall enrollment surveys conducted by the National Center for 
Education Statistics:  the Higher Education General Information Survey 
(HEGIS), and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 
surveys which replaced HEGIS in 1986. HEGIS contains biennial enrollment 
data by racial/ethnic category from 1976 to 1984.  IPEDS collected racial/
ethnic enrollment biennially from 1986 to 1990.  Since 1990, the race/
ethnicity data have been reported annually.  The data reported here pertain 
only to institutions accredited at the higher education level by an agency 
recognized by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

                                HIGHLIGHTS

In the fall of 1993, 14,306,000 students were enrolled in higher education 
institutions.  This was about 180,000 fewer students than were enrolled in 
the fall of 1992.  This 1.2 percent drop in total enrollment between 1992 
and 1993 is the first decline in total enrollment since 1984 (table 1a) and 
was due entirely to a decrease in the number of white, non-Hispanic students 
when enrollment in all institutions is considered.  Their numbers decreased 
by 270,000 or 2.5 percent between 1992 and 1993, the second year in a row 
that their numbers decreased (table 1).  

The decrease in white student enrollment was partially offset by increases 
in enrollments among all other racial/ethnic groups as well as among non-
resident aliens.  The number of Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander students 
increased by 3.6 and 3.9 percent, respectively, while the number of American 
Indians/Alaskan Natives and nonresident aliens increased by 2 percent.  The 
number of black, non-Hispanic students increased by 1.3 percent (table 1).

In addition to occurring only among white, non-Hispanics, the decline in 
total enrollment occurred exclusively among undergraduates whose numbers 
decreased by 1.7 percent.  The number of graduate students increased by 1.2
percent, while the number of first-professional students increased by 
slightly over 4 percent (table 1).  The decline in enrollment also occurred 
only in public institutions, with their enrollments declining by 1.7 percent.  
Private institutions increased enrollments slightly by one-half of 1 percent.  
These declines, taken in combination, resulted in a 3 percent decrease in the 
number of white, non-Hispanic undergraduates and a decrease of 3.1 percent in 
the number of white non-Hispanic students in public institutions.   

The picture of minority enrollment was somewhat different from that of 
whites.  Their numbers increased in public institutions by 2.6 percent.  
In private institutions, American Indian/Alaskan Native enrollments declined 
by 4 percent, while the enrollment of blacks, Hispanics and Asians or Pacific 
Islanders increased, by 1.3, 3.8 and 5.2 percent, respectively; white 
enrollment declined by .2 percent.  Additionally, between 1992 and 1993 
the number of minority undergraduate students increased by 2.1 percent in 
private institutions.

The enrollment of both men and women declined, with the number of men 
decreasing at a slightly higher rate than that of women.  The number of 
men declined by 1.5 percent while the number of women declined by 1.1 percent
(table 3).  White men's enrollment dropped 3.1 percent in public institutions 
and 1.1 percent in privates between 1992 and 1993.  White women's enrollment 
decreased 3.2 percent in public institutions but increased slightly in private 
institutions.  The enrollment of men and women of color increased in both 
public and private institutions, although the enrollment of black men in 
private institutions was unchanged and the number of American Indian/Alaskan 
Native men and women decreased in private institutions (tables 1b and 1c).   

From tables 1d and 1e it would appear that most of the decline in enrollment 
occurred among part-time rather than full-time students.  Full-time enrollment 
decreased by less than one-half of 1 percent while part-time enrollment 
decreased by more than 2.3 percent.  There were 1.7 percent fewer white 
full-time students enrolled in 1993 than in 1992 and over 3.5 percent fewer 
part-time white students enrolled.

Table 2 indicates that most of the enrollment declines were in 2-year 
institutions.  This is reasonable since the number of part-time students 
declined and 57 percent of all part-time students attend 2-year schools 
(table 2d).  The decline in enrollment in 4-year institutions was less 
than one-half of 1 percent, while enrollment was down 2.7 percent in 2-year 
institutions.  The enrollment of white students was down in both 4- and 
2-year institutions, but in 2-year institutions it was down over 4 percent, 
while in 4-year institutions it was down less than 1.5 percent. The number 
of minority students increased in 4-year institutions for all minority 
groups, ranging from a 2.5 percent increase for black students to an 
almost 7 percent increase for American Indian/Alaskan Natives.  The 
number of black and American Indian/Alaskan Native students in 2-year 
institutions declined but the number of Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander 
students increased in 2-year schools.

Total fall enrollment declined in 30 states between 1992 and 1993.  The 
largest decline was registered in California, with a drop of over 7 percent 
(tables 5a and 5b).  The 5.8 percent drop in enrollment in Nebraska was the 
second largest of all the states.  Fourteen states had drops in enrollment 
greater than the national average decline of 1.2 percent.  However, some 
states did have increases in enrollment.  States with the largest percentage 
increase were Utah, with a 3.8 percent increase, Georgia with a 3.1 percent 
increase, Hawaii with a 2.8 percent increase, and New Mexico with a 2.2 
percent increase.

Tables 1a-4 indicate the share of enrollment of students from each of the 
5 racial/ethnic groups, as well as students who are nonresident aliens.  As 
may be seen from table 1a, although 74 percent of all students were white, 
non-Hispanic in 1993,  white students have had a decreasing share of total 
enrollment since 1984 while all minority groups have increased their share 
of enrollment as have nonresident aliens.  

This pattern of a declining share of enrollment for white, non-Hispanic 
students and increased shares of enrollment for all other racial/ethnic 
groups and nonresident aliens is generally the same for students in public 
institutions (table 1), men and women (tables 1b and 1c), full- and part-time 
students (tables 1d and 1e), students in 4- and 2-year institutions (table 2), 
and students at all levels of enrollment (undergraduate, graduate and first-
professional) (table 4).
 
Other points of interest from the 1993 enrollment data include:

     The share of enrollment in public institutions was down for the second 
     year in a row.  In 1993, 78.2 percent of all students attended public 
     institutions, down from the 78.6 percent in 1992 and the 78.8 percent
     in 1991 (table 1a).

*    Women continued to increase their share of total enrollment.  In 1993 
     women comprised 55.1 percent of the students in higher education 
     institutions, compared to their 55 percent share in 1992 and the 54.7
     percent share in 1991 (tables 1b and 1c).

     Forty-three percent of students enrolled in the fall of 1993 were 
     enrolled part-time.  This was down slightly from the 44  percent 
     that were enrolled part-time in 1992.

     Four-year institutions accounted for 61.1 percent of all student in 
     1993, up slightly from their 60.5 percent share in 1992.                             
     
                        
                                TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 

Highlights 

Tables

Table 1.  Total enrollment and percentage change in institutions of higher 
          education, by control of institution, level of study and race/
          ethnicity: 50 states and the District of Columbia, Fall 1990 
          through Fall 1993

Table 1a. Total enrollment in institutions of higher education, by control 
          of institution and race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of 
          Columbia, Fall 1984 through Fall 1993

Table 1b. Male enrollment in institutions of higher education, by control of 
          institution and race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of 
          Columbia, Fall 1991 through Fall 1993

Table 1c. Female enrollment in institutions of higher education, by control 
          of institution and race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of 
          Columbia, Fall 1991 through Fall 1993

Table 1d. Full-time enrollment in institutions of higher education, by 
          control of institution and race/ethnicity: 50 states and the 
          District of Columbia, Fall 1991 through Fall 1993

Table 1e. Part-time enrollment in institutions of higher education, by 
          control of institution and race/ethnicity: 50 states and the 
          District of Columbia, Fall 1991 through Fall 1993

Table 2.  Total enrollment in institutions of higher education, by level 
          of institution and race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of 
          Columbia, Fall 1984 through Fall 1993

Table 2a. Male enrollment in institutions of higher education, by level of 
          institution and race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of 
          Columbia, Fall 1991 through Fall 1993

Table 2b. Female enrollment in institutions of higher education, by level of 
          institution and race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of 
          Columbia, Fall 1991 through Fall 1993

Table 2c. Full-time enrollment in institutions of higher education, by level 
          of institution and race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of 
          Columbia, Fall 1991 through Fall 1993

Table 2d. Part-time enrollment in institutions of higher education, by level 
          of institution and race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of 
          Columbia, Fall 1991 through Fall 1993
                                     

Table 3.  Total enrollment in institutions of higher education, by sex and 
          race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of Columbia, Fall 1991 
          through Fall 1993

Table 3a. Full-time enrollment in institutions of higher education, by sex 
          and race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of Columbia, Fall 
          1991 through Fall 1993

Table 3b. Part-time enrollment in institutions of higher education, by sex 
          and race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of Columbia, Fall 
          1991 through Fall 1993

Table 4.  Total enrollment in institutions of higher education, by level 
          of study and race/ethnicity:  50 states and the District of 
          Columbia, Fall 1984 through Fall 1993

Table 5a. Fall enrollment in institutions of higher education, by state and 
          race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of Columbia, Fall 1991 
          

Table 5b. Fall enrollment in institutions of higher education, by state and 
          race/ethnicity: 50 states and the District of Columbia, Fall 1992

Table 5c. Fall enrollment in institutions of higher education, by state and 
          race/ethnicity:  50 states and the District of Columbia, Fall 1993

Table 6a. Fall enrollment and percentage change in enrollment in all 
          institutions of higher education,  by level of institution and 
          state:  50 states and the District of Columbia, Fall 1992 and 
          Fall 1993

Table 6b. Fall enrollment and percentage change in enrollment in PUBLIC 
          institutions of higher education, by level of institution and 
          state:  50 states and the District of Columbia, Fall 1992 and 
          Fall 1993

Table 6c. Fall enrollment and percentage change in enrollment in PRIVATE 
          institutions of higher education, by level of institution and 
          state:  50 states and the District of Columbia, Fall 1992 and 
          Fall 1993

Technical Notes
 
Table 7.  Number of higher education institutions and response rates, by 
          control and level of institution:  50 states and the District of 
          Columbia, Fall 1993

Table 8.  Number of higher education institutions and response rates, by 
          control and level of institution:  50 states and the District of 
          Columbia, Fall 1993

Table 9.  Fall enrollment in higher education institutions and the percent 
          of enrollment that was imputed, by state and by control and level 
          of institution:  50 states and the District of Columbia, Fall 1993
          

                             TECHNICAL NOTES 

Data Sources

The enrollment statistics by racial/ethnic category in this report are 
derived from two data sources.  The information for 1984 comes from data 
reported biennially by institutions of higher education in the Higher 
Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Fall Enrollment and 
Compliance Report of Institutions of Higher Education."  The data for 
1986 through 1993 are from information reported by institutions of higher 
education through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), 
"Fall Enrollment" survey.  The IPEDS racial/ethnic data were reported 
biennially between 1986 and 1990, and annually since 1990.  

It should be noted that data reported for 1991 and 1992 in this report 
differ somewhat from those reported in other sources.  Modifications have 
been made to the 1991 and 1992 data with the addition of late arriving data 
as well as corrections and updates forwarded by institutions.

Overview of Methodology

The Fall Enrollment survey (EF) is conducted annually by the National 
Center for Education Statistics (NCES) as part of the IPEDS.  IPEDS 
collects enrollment data from all postsecondary education institutions 
in the United States and its outlying areas.  However, data for this 
report are exclusively from higher education institutions (i.e., those
institutions that are accredited at the college level by an agency 
recognized by the Secretary, U.S. Department of Education) in the 50 
States and the District of Columbia.  Data from noncollegiate institutions 
are not included.
 

Students included in the Fall Enrollment survey:

    *   students enrolled in courses creditable toward a degree or other 
        formal award;

    *   students enrolled in courses that are part of a vocational or 
        occupational program, including those enrolled in off-campus centers; 
        and
    
    *   high school students taking regular college courses for credit.

Students excluded from the Fall Enrollment survey: 

    *   students enrolled exclusively in courses not creditable toward a 
        formal award or vocational program;

    *   students enrolled exclusively in remedial courses;

    *   students exclusively auditing classes;

    *   students studying abroad (e.g., at a foreign university) if their 
        enrollment at the institution is only an administrative record and 
        the fee is only nominal; 

    *   students in any branch campus located in a foreign country; and

    *   students exclusively earning continuing education units (CEU's).

Institutions Surveyed and Response Rates

Some version of the 1993 Fall Enrollment survey was sent to 3,602 higher 
education institutions in the summer of 1993.  Table 7 shows the number of 
higher education institutions that received the 1993 Fall Enrollment survey 
(or the Consolidated form) by level and control of institution; the number 
institutions that responded; and the response rates.  The response rate is 
based on the number of in-scope institutions responding to the 1993 survey 
divided by the number of institutions receiving the survey.  Table 8 shows 
the response rates by institutional sector and by state.

Follow-up 

As part of the enrollment survey follow-up procedures, nonresponding 
institutions were contacted by letter and telephone.  These institutions 
were asked to provide the total number of men and women enrolled, by level 
of enrollment and total enrollment, by race/ethnicity and sex.  

Editing 

All data were edited for major reporting errors.  Generated totals were 
compared to reported totals and replaced the reported totals when they 
were within an acceptable range.  Data were also compared to the prior 
year's response for consistency of reporting.  Institutions were contacted 
to resolve major reporting discrepancies.

Imputations 

Although the HEGIS and IPEDS data reported here are historically comparable 
in terms of the reporting institutions (i.e., those accredited at the college 
level by agencies recognized by the Secretary, U.S.  Department of Education),
there are some differences in the imputation procedures used in the two 
surveys.

In HEGIS, data for totally nonresponding institutions (i.e., those that did 
not return an enrollment survey form), were imputed whenever possible by 
using previously reported information.  In a few cases, imputations could 
not be performed; as a result total enrollment as well as enrollment by 
racial/ethnic category may be underestimated.  For responding institutions 
with incomplete or missing racial/ethnic data, the racial/ethnic data were 
not imputed. However, this was not a major problem because totals by racial/
ethnic category were always within 0.3 percent of the actual totals.  

In IPEDS, a procedure similar to that used for the prior HEGIS surveys is 
followed in that previously reported information is used if it is available.  
If no previously reported data are available, imputations are based on current
year group means or ratios derived from similar institutions with reported 
data in both the previous and current year.

Additionally, in IPEDS for responding institutions with incomplete racial/
ethnic data, reporting, the difference between the sum of enrollment across 
the racial/ethnic categories and the reported totals is redistributed based 
on the distribution of the racial/ethnic enrollment reported by the 
institution.  For institutions with missing racial/ethnic data, data are 
imputed by using the distributions of racial/ethnic enrollment reported by 
institutions in the same state and of the same level and control.  Prior to 
1986 (i.e., HEGIS survey years), data were imputed only for institutional
totals and not across racial/ethnic categories.  As a result of the 
distribution process, in the transition between HEGIS and IPEDS, enrollment 
counts increased proportionately for all racial/ethnic categories including 
nonresident aliens.

Table 9 indicates the percent of enrollment that was imputed by state and 
institutional control and level.  The reader should be aware that a large 
percentage of imputed data may affect the quality of that data at the state 
level and at the national level as well.
          
Race/Ethnicity Unknown

Beginning in 1990, a "race/ethnicity unknown" category  was incorporated 
into the Fall Enrollment survey.  To allow for analysis of enrollment trends 
by race/ethnicity, enrollment reported in the race/ethnicity unknown category
are distributed across all racial/ethnic categories based on the institution's 
reported racial/ethnic distribution.  These data, however, are not distributed 
to the nonresident alien category.  

Cautionary Notes

Table 4 contains data by level of study (undergraduate, graduate, and first-
professional).  The reader is cautioned that the level of study data presented 
here may differ from data in other NCES publications.  HEGIS data, which 
appear in publications prior to 1986, contained information on unclassified 
students, by level (only undergraduate and graduate student categories).

The material in this report is based upon activities supported by the 
National Science Foundation under Agreement No. SRS-9413866.

Any opinion, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this 
publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the 
views of the National Science Foundation.

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