STUDENTS by Jerry
D. Saye and Katherine
M. Wisser Part Two of the ALISE statistical questionnaire requested
schools provide data dealing with student enrollment and characteristics,
class size, degrees awarded, financial aid, and tuition and fees.
This part of the questionnaire collected primarily aggregated
data reported on 11 data input tables. These data input tables were used to generate
the tables that constitute the core of this chapter. In
working with the data reported by the schools, some incomplete or
inconsistent data were encountered.
In a few cases, errors were recognized by schools soon after
mailing the data and revised figures were submitted.
In the later stages of data entry and analysis, schools were
contacted by email, fax, and phone to resolve what appeared to be
either inconsistencies or reporting errors.
In some cases, data requested were not in the possession of
schools (this is particularly true for the program categories “Other
Undergraduate” and “Other Graduate”) or the schools elected not to
provide the requested data for a variety of reasons. Footnotes have been provided whenever possible
to explain inconsistencies. Although
no guarantee can be made that all errors have been identified and
corrected, it is believed that the accuracy of the data reported by
the schools as reflected in the tables that follow is high. The
fact that data for similar data elements, e.g., enrollment by program
level or degree, international student enrollment, etc., were submitted
by schools on separate tables, it is possible that some subtotals
and totals vary slightly from table to table due to differences in
data supplied. To minimize this problem every effort has been
made to make these data agree, but it is recognized that inconsistencies
have not been totally removed from the tables.
In a few cases, editorial changes were made to tables to obtain
agreement among them. These
editorial changes have been footnoted.
This inconsistency should not cause major problems in that
the numbers usually vary only slightly. Fifty-five
of the 56 schools with ALA-accredited master’s programs (LS and/or
IS) participated in the survey (7 Canadian and 48 All
data submitted by the schools are represented in the relevant tables
unless the data were clearly inconsistent with the data requested. In these latter cases, a footnote is provided
explaining the situation and giving the data reported by the school. A dash “-----” has been used throughout this
chapter to indicate no response. In
a number of cases no data were reported by a school when a “0” would
have been the more appropriate response; conversely, in other situations
a “0” was reported when no input would have been appropriate. In preparing the tables, the context of the
data to be reported was evaluated against the data schools submitted
and, in some cases, zeros were changed to “-----“ and “-----“ changed
to zeros. Consideration
has been given to the meaning conveyed by the numbers in the tables. Totals for rows and columns were calculated
and checked against the totals provided by the schools. When a discrepancy was encountered, the person
reporting that data for the school was contacted to try to resolve
the difference. In a number
of cases the total number of schools reporting will be different from
the number used to calculate the mean.
For example, if it is known that not all schools provided ethnic
data, then in calculating the mean for any ethnic group, the number
of students in any particular ethnic category was divided by the number
of schools reporting ethnic data rather than dividing by the number
of schools offering that program. When totals and means are calculated, the number
of schools included in the calculation is stated, and a footnote is
provided indicating which schools were excluded, or in some cases
included. In
order to make data in the tables understandable, particularly when
a school felt the need to explain data that differs slightly from
the data requested, footnotes have been provided liberally with the
tables. Additionally, some general comments have been
made at the beginning of a section of tables if those comments are
pertinent to all tables in that section. Enrollment by Program and Gender
(Table II-1) Enrollment figures for the 2002 Fall term were
requested for each of eight program levels: · Bachelor’s
·
· Master’s – Information Science · Other Master’s · Post-Master’s · Doctoral · Other Undergraduate · Other Graduate To ensure that each school interpreted the program
levels the same way, the following program definitions and instructions
for their use were provided: Bachelor's: Include here only those students
who are working toward a bachelor's degree in library and information
science, regardless of whether offered on or off campus. Do not
include students taking courses as cognate or service courses. Report them as “Other Undergraduate.” ALA-Accredited Master's -- Library Science: Include
here only those students working towards a separate master's degree in library science
or a combined library
and information science degree accredited
by Master's -- Information Science: Include
here only those students working towards a separate master's degree
in information science, whether
accredited by Other Master’s: Include here those students working towards a
separate master's degree other
than the ALA-Accredited Master’s -- Library Science or Master’s --
Information Science (either ALA-accredited or not) offered
by your school, regardless of whether offered on or off campus.
. Do not
include students taking courses as cognate or service courses. Report them as “Other Graduate.” Post-Master's: Include
here only those students who are working toward a post-master's degree
or certificate in library and information science, regardless of whether
offered on or off campus. Do not include students taking courses
as cognate or service courses. Report
them as “Other Graduate.” Doctoral: Include here only those students
who are working toward a doctoral degree in library and information
science, regardless of whether offered on or off campus. Do not include students taking
courses as cognate or service courses.
Report them as “Other Graduate.” Other Graduate: Include
here students taking library and information science courses as cognate
or service courses or for professional development, regardless of
whether offered on or off campus. Other Undergraduate: Include
here students taking library and information science courses as cognate
or service courses for undergraduate credit, regardless of whether
offered on or off campus. Do not include students who are in an
established undergraduate program in library and information science. Data are reported for 55 of the 56 schools with accredited-ALA
master’s programs. Schools
were requested to provide separate counts for full-time and part-time
students, differentiated by gender.
For part-time students, FTE (Full Time Equivalent) figures
were also requested as well as the total FTE enrollment.
The directions instructed each school to use its institution’s
method for computation of FTE or, if no such method existed, to use
the following formula: Consider a student
full-time if the course load will enable requirements for the degree
to be completed within the normal length of time.
For example, if the normal time to complete the degree is 12
courses in 4 quarters, a student carrying 3 courses during the quarter
should be counted as 1.00 FTE; a student carrying 2 courses during
the quarter should be counted as 0.67 FTE (2/3 = .067).
Students carrying an overload should be counted as only 1.00
FTE. In the space below, continue on the back if
necessary, please supply the formula you used to compute the FTE. If the FTE formula is differs by program level
please give each formula used and the program level with which it
is associated. Although on-campus and off-campus
students were to be included in the data submitted, the questionnaire
also asked for separate FTE data for off-campus students. Table
II-1-a-1 is a summary table that presents total enrollment figures
for Fall 2002 as well as the number and percentage of full-time and
part-time students, divided by gender, for each of the eight program
levels. The total Fall 2002 enrollment of 24,112 is
up 5.4 percent from the 22,883 reported last year. Total enrollment for the 6 degree programs was
21,212. This represents an
enrollment increase of 5.9 percent increase over the 20,033 reported
for Fall 2001. ALA-accredited
master’s – LS programs account for the majority (71.3 percent) of
total degree enrollment. Master’s
– IS enrollment represents 5.4 percent of total enrollment while “other
master’s” is 3.5 percent. Bachelor’s
degrees continue to rise in the percentage their students constitute
of total enrollment – 14.2 percent this year.
The 28 schools reporting doctoral enrollment indicate of 810
students are seeking that degree. They constitute or 3.8 percent of total degree
enrollment. Post-master’s students
comprise 1.8 percent of enrollment. All
degree levels, except bachelor’s, Master’s – IS, and doctoral degrees,
have the majority of their students in a part-time status. At the bachelor’s degree level, 81.4 percent
of the students are full-time. Doctoral
programs have 56 percent of their students in a full-time students
status. This year the percentage of master’s – IS who
are full-time rose to 50.3 percent from the 41.7 percent reported
last year. Over two-thirds
(69.6 percent) of all ALA-accredited master’s – LS students are part‑time
as are 51.8 percent of “other master’s” degree and 81.6 percent of
post-master’s students. When
distribution by gender is examined, female students are found to comprise
80.2 percent of ALA-accredited master’s – LS enrollment. Gender distribution becomes more equal for the
master’s – IS degree, where males constitute 51.8 percent of students. Female doctoral students are in the majority
at 53.8 percent as they are for “other master’s” degrees where they
comprise 55.3 percent of the enrollment. Sixteen
of the 56 schools (28.6 percent) currently offer a bachelor’s degree. Table
II-1-c-1a provides school-by-school enrollment figures.
It reveals that 3,015 students were pursuing a bachelor’s degree
in Fall 2002. This is a decline of 3.4 percent despite one
additional school offering this degree this year over last. A large percentage of enrollment is concentrated
at three schools. The bachelor’s
enrollment at Drexel (847), Table
II-1-c-2a-LS reports ALA-accredited master’s – LS enrollment for
each of the 54
[1]
schools offering that program.
It illustrates the wide range of program sizes across the schools
– from the five largest programs, The
distribution of full-time to part-time students reported for the ALA-accredited
master’s – LS degree shows wide variation among the schools. Five schools (9.4 percent) have more than three-fourths
of their ALA-accredited master’s – LS students in a full-time status:
( The
variation in full-time versus part-time enrollment can have a considerable
impact on a school’s enrollment figures when enrollment is viewed
in terms of FTE (Full-Time Equivalent).
From that perspective who the largest schools are changes somewhat. The programs with the largest ALA‑accredited
master's–LS enrollment in terms of FTE are Table
II-1-c-2a-IS reports Fall 2002 master’s – IS enrollment for the
7 schools (12.5 percent) that offer these degrees -- four that are
accredited by ALA and three that are not.
Enrollment for this degree range from 304 at Drexel to 81 at
The
distribution of full-time to part-time students reported for the master’s
– IS shows wide variation among the schools as was seen for the ALA-accredited
master’s – LS degree. Four
of the schools have the majority of their master’s – IS students in
a full-time status – Montréal (94.6 percent), North Carolina – Chapel
Hill (75.7 percent), Albany (69.1 percent), and Syracuse (58.2 percent).
Conversely, Drexel and Fourteen
schools (25.9 percent) of the 54 schools reporting indicated enrollment
for “other master’s” degrees (Table
II-1-c-3a) for Fall 2002 in addition to their ALA-accredited master’s
– LS and or master’s – IS enrollments. Post-master’s
programs historically have had comparatively low enrollments. Table
II-1-c-4a confirms that this continues.
Of the 25 schools reporting Fall 2002 enrollment data for their
post-master’s program only ten schools (40 percent) had more than
10 students in their programs. The high percentage of part-time students in
post-master’s programs (81.6 percent) results in a low mean 9 FTE
(Table
II-1-c-4b) compared to the mean 15.2 head count. Half
(28) of the 56 schools offer a doctoral program (Table
II-1-c-5a). As has been characteristic of the other degrees,
the 810 doctoral students enrolled in Fall 2002 are distributed quite
unevenly across the schools. The
doctoral program at Table
II-1-e provides the number of FTE off-campus students each school
had registered for the 2002 Fall term.
Forty-two, or slightly more than three-quarters (76.4 percent),
of the 55 schools had off‑campus enrollment using one of several
approaches to delivery available.
This number is an increase from the 32 schools that reported
off‑campus enrollment for Fall 2001.
At several schools off-campus FTE enrollment was very sizeable.
By far the largest off-campus enrollments are at Course Enrollments (Table II-2) Schools were requested to report the number of students enrolled in courses
or sections of courses during the 2002 Fall term. Enrollments were reported in increments of five
students. Independent study
and reading courses were not to be included in these counts. Data are reported for 55
of the 56 schools with accredited-ALA master’s programs. Table
II-2-a-1 reports course and section enrollment distributed across
the 11 enrollment groups for courses offered in Fall 2002 by each
The
majority of courses/sections offered in Fall 2002 have enrollments
of 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, and 21-25 students.
These four course/section enrollment groups account for 60.2
percent of all courses offered. The
course/section size with the highest frequency was the 11-15 students
group followed by the 16-20 group.
The total number of courses/sections offered with large enrollments,
i.e., 36-40, 41-45, and 46-50 students, was relatively small (106,
42, and 38 respectively) in comparison to the frequencies of the other
enrollment groups. This is
up from the 85, 52, and 30 reported for those groupings for Fall 2001.
Courses/sections offered in these three larger enrollment groups
account for only 7.9 percent of all courses offered.
Up from the 7.3 percent reported for the previous year’s term.
The number of courses/sections offered with more than 50 students
in Fall 2002 was 69. The number
of courses offered in this size group has remained relatively constant
for the past few years: 2002,
69; 2001, 66; 2000, 66. The
questionnaire requested schools to comment on courses with enrollments
of over 50 students. From these comments (Table
II-2-a-2), it is apparent that courses with enrollments of over
50 students continue to be used primarily to present core material,
distance education or undergraduate courses. Schools
were asked not to include independent studies or individual reading
courses in their submission of course enrollment data.
Rather they were requested to report separately the total number
of students enrolled in those courses.
Table
II-2-a-3 shows the number of independent study or reading courses
reported by each school. This
table reveals the wide variation in the number of independent study
or reading courses offered from none at two schools ( Degrees and Certificates Awarded (Table II-3)
For
Table II-3 schools were asked to report the total number of degrees
and certificates awarded during the 2001-2002 academic year, including
summer sessions, for the six degree categories: · Bachelor’s
·
· Master’s -- Information Science · Other Master’s · Post-Master’s · Doctoral
In supplying these data, schools
were requested to report the number of degrees and certificates aggregated
by the gender and ethnic origin of their graduates. In reporting ethnic origin the following five
categories, as defined by the US Department of Labor, were to be used.
[2]
AI American Indian or Alaskan Native -- a person having origin in any of the original peoples of North America, and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition. AP Asian
or Pacific Islander -- a person having origin in any of the original
peoples of the B Black,
not of Hispanic Origin -- a person having origin in any of the black
racial groups of H Hispanic
-- a person of Cuban, Central or South American, Mexican, Puerto Rican,
or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. Only those persons from Central and South American
countries who are of Spanish origin, descent, or culture should be
included in this category. Persons
from W White,
not of Hispanic origin -- a person having origin in any of the original
peoples of Additionally, two other reporting categories were also
used: I
International students -- all students who are not NA Information not available.
Please use this category sparingly.
Where at all possible, report ethnicity. Canadian
schools were not required to provide ethnic data, although they could
elect to do so. They were required,
however, to provide totals. Table
II-3-a reports the number of degrees awarded for each of the six
degrees distributed by gender and ethnic origin.
Table
II-3-a-1 reports these same data by school. A total of 6,732 bachelor’s, ALA-accredited
master’s -- LS, master’s -- IS, “other master’s”, post-master’s, and
doctoral degrees were awarded by schools during 2001‑2002. This is an increase of 4.4 percent (282 degrees)
over the number awarded the previous academic year, but down from
the 7.6 percent increase of the previous of that year. While female graduates accounted for 70.3 percent
of all degrees awarded, the male/female distribution varies considerably
among the different degrees. Females
are in the majority for five of the six degrees. This ranges from highs of 85 percent for the
post-master’s and 79.8 percent for ALA-accredited master’s – LS degree
to 52.2 and 50.5 percent for master’s -- IS and “other master’s” degrees
respectively. The only degree
where males are the majority of graduates is the bachelor’s degree
(66.2 percent). It is perhaps
noteworthy that this degree is closely associated with information
science. Similarly one of the two degrees that has the
smallest female majority is the master’s – IS. |