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.
Allof the 56 schools with ALA‑accredited
master’s programs (LS and/or IS) participated in the survey (7 Canadian and 49
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’s submission provided an explanation
of the data or an explanation of how the data reported differed 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 2003 Fall term were requested for each of
eight program levels:
·
Bachelor’s
·
ALA‑accredited
Master’s – Library Science
·
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 scienc
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. 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 enrollment 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
2003 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 2003 enrollment of 26,521 is
up 10 percent from the 24,112 reported last year. Total enrollment for the 6 degree programs
was. 22,786. This represents an
enrollment increase of 7.4 percent increase over the 21,212 reported for Fall
2002. ALA‑accredited master’s – LS
programs account for the majority (74.1 percent) of total degree
enrollment. Master’s – IS enrollment
represents 4.9 percent of total enrollment while “other master’s” is 3.1
percent. Bachelor’s degree witnessed a
decline of 3.3 percent from that of Fall 2002.
This follows a number of years of increases. Bachelor degree enrollment now constitutes
12.8 percent of degree program enrollment.
The 29 schools reporting doctoral enrollment (up from 28 last year)
indicate of 920 students are seeking that degree. This is a 13.6 percent
increase over Fall 2002 doctoral enrollment.
Doctoral students constitute 4 percent of total degree enrollment. Post-master’s students comprise but 1.1
percent of enrollment. Overall, only the
ALA‑accredited master’s – LS and doctoral programs increased their
percentage of total program enrollment.
All degree levels, except
bachelor’s, master’s – IS, and doctoral degrees, had the majority of their
students in a part‑time status. At
the bachelor’s degree level, 81 percent of the students are full‑time. Doctoral programs have 60 percent of their
students in a full‑time students status.
This year the percentage of master’s – IS who are full‑time rose
to 53.3 percent from the 50.3 percent reported last year. Over two-thirds (68.6 percent) of all ALA‑accredited
master’s – LS students are part‑time as are 56.8 percent of “other
master’s” degree and 89.2 percent of post-master’s students. The percentage of part‑time students
for all three degree programs increased in Fall 2003.
When distribution by gender is
examined, female students are found to comprise 79 percent of ALA‑accredited
master’s – LS enrollment. Gender
distribution is equal for the master’s – IS degree, at 50 percent for males and
females. Female doctoral students are in
the majority at 56.1 percent as they are for “other master’s” degrees where
they comprise 55.2 percent of the enrollment..
Sixteen of the 56 schools (28.6
percent) currently offer a bachelor’s degree.
This is the same number of schools reporting bachelor’s degree
enrollment in Fall 2002, although
Table
II-1-c-2a-LS reports 16,876 students enrolled for the ALA‑accredited
master’s – LS degree at the 55 schools offering that degree. This represents an increase of 11.6 percent
over Fall 2002 enrollment for that degree.
The table 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 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.
Four of the five ALA‑accredited master’s – LS programs with the
highest head count enrollments are also the schools with the highest FTE
enrollments although their rank order changes slightly:
Table
II-1-c-2a-IS reports Fall 2003 master’s – IS enrollment for the 7 schools
that offer that degree -- four of those degrees are accredited by ALA and three
are not. The total enrollment for this
degree numbers 1,114 students, compared to 1,156 students in Fall 2002 – a 3.6
percent decline. This compares to the
11.6 percent increase for the ALA‑accredited master’s – LS degree.
Four of the schools offering the
master’s – IS degree have the majority of their students in a full‑time
status – Montréal (90.4 percent), North Carolina – Chapel Hill (77.7 percent),
Albany (64.9 percent), and Syracuse (57.6 percent). Conversely, Drexel and
Seventeen schools (30.4
percent) of the 56 schools reporting indicated enrollment for “other master’s”
degrees (Table
II-1-c-3a)
for Fall 2003 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.
Total post-master’s enrollment in Fall 2003 was 249 students This is a decline of 34.6 percent from Fall
2002 post-master’s enrollment. Of the 25
schools (44.6 percent) reporting Fall 2003 enrollment data for their
post-master’s program eight schools (32 percent) had had enrollments of 10 or
more students. By far the highest
enrollment is at
Slightly more than half
(29) of the 56 schools offer a doctoral program (Table
II-1-c-5a). The 29 schools reporting
doctoral enrollment for Fall 2003 is an increase of one school (
Table II-1-e
provides the number of FTE off-campus students each school had registered for
the 2003 Fall term. Thirty-three, or
slightly more than three-quarters (58.9 percent), of the 56 schools reported
having off‑campus enrollment using
one of several approaches to delivery available. This number is an decrease from the 42 schools
reporting off‑campus enrollment for Fall 2002. 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 2003 Fall term. Enrollments were reported in increments of
five students. Independent study and
reading courses were not to be included in those counts. Data are reported for all
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 2003 by each school. The number of courses/sections offered that
term ranged from 11 (Dalhousie) to 143 (
The majority of courses/sections
offered in Fall 2003 have enrollments of 6-10,11-15, 16-20, and 21-25. These four course/section enrollment groups
account for 60.3 percent of all courses/sections offered. The course/section size with the highest
frequency was the 16-20 students group followed by the 6-10 group. The total number of courses/sections offered
with large enrollments, i.e., 36-40, 41-45, and 46-50 students, was relatively
small (108, 43, and 24 respectively) in comparison to the frequencies of the
other enrollment groups.
Courses/sections offered in these three larger enrollment groups account
for only 6.7 percent of all courses/sections offered. This is down from the 7.9 and 7.3 percent
reported for Fall of 2002 and 2001 respectively. The number of courses/sections offered with
more than 50 students in Fall 2003 was 87.
This is an increase from the 69 such courses/sections offered in Fall
2002. 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 students enrolled in independent study or
reading courses reported by each school.
More than one student can be enrolled in this kind of course. A total 1,350 students were enrolled in Fall
2003. The table reveals the wide
variation in the number of students enrolled in independent study or reading
courses from none at six schools (Dalhousie,
For Table II-3 schools were asked to
report the total number of degrees and certificates awarded during the
2002-2003 academic year, including summer sessions, for the six degree
categories:
·
Bachelor’s
·
ALA‑accredited
Master’s -- Library Science
·
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. [1]
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 Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, or 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 Europe, North America, or the
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 for the 2002-2003 academic year. Table
II-3-a-1 reports these same data by school.
A total of 7,247 bachelor’s, ALA‑accredited master’s -- LS,
master’s -- IS, “other master’s”, post-master’s, and doctoral degrees were
awarded by schools during 2002‑2003.
This is an increase of 7.7 percent (515 degrees) over the number awarded
the previous academic year. While female
graduates accounted for 70.9 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
82.8 percent for the post-master’s and 80.8 percent for ALA‑accredited
master’s – LS degree to 55.3 and 53.1 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 (63.6
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.
Table II-3-a
also reveals that graduates of 2002-2003 continue to be predominately White
(68.9 percent). Blacks are the most
represented non-White ethnic group (5.8 percent). Asian or Pacific Islanders represented 4.3
percent of graduates followed by Hispanics at 3 percent. Native Americans constitute less than
one-half percent (0.3) of all graduates of the six degrees. All minority groups except Asian and Pacific
Islanders are underrepresented as graduates in relation to their percentage of
the
Black graduates accounted for 11.1
percent of bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2002-2003. Blacks were 10.9 percent of graduates of the
“other master’s” degrees. The degrees in
which Black graduates had the lowest representation in 2002-2003 were doctoral
(2.4 percent) and ALA‑accredited master’s – LS (4.5 percent) followed by
the master’s -- IS (4.7 percent). Black
representation in the 2000
Hispanic representation was lower
than that of Blacks for five of the six degree fields. The one exception is the post-master’s where
Hispanics received 9.4 percent of the degrees awarded in 2002-2003. While this might seem worthy of praise the
percentage is greatly influenced by the small number of post‑master’s
graduates (6). Five of the 6 post-master’s degrees awarded were bestowed
by
While constituting only 6 percent of
all degrees awarded in 2002-2003 international students represent a
considerable percentage of graduates for three of the six degree programs. They received more than a third (35.4
percent) of the doctoral degrees and 25.5 percent of the master’s -- IS
degrees. Their representation as
graduates of “other master’s” follows at 15.9 percent. These figures are in marked contrast to
international student graduation figures for the bachelor’s and ALA‑accredited
master’s – LS degrees. For these
programs international students represent only 6.2 and 2.8 percent respectively
of graduates.
A total of 1,037 bachelor’s degrees
were awarded during the 2002-2003 academic year (Table
II-3-c-1). This is a notable
increase (19.1 percent) over the 871 awarded in 2001-2002. For each degree the number of degrees and
certificates awarded varies widely from school to school. Fourteen of the 16 schools (87.5 percent)
that reported bachelor’s degree enrollment for Fall 2003 awarded degrees at
that level in 2002-2003.
Fifty-four of the 55 schools with
ALA‑accredited master’s – LS programs reported graduates for 2002-2003 (Table
II-3-c-2-LS).
A total of 587 master’s – IS degrees
were awarded during the 2002-2003 academic year. This is a notable increase (13.1 percent)
over the 510 awarded in 2001-2002 (Table
II-3-c-2-IS). Of this total, 224–
were awarded by the four schools with ALA‑accredited IS master’s degree (
A total of 339 other master’s
degrees were awarded during the 2002-2003 academic year (Table
II-3-c-3). This is very similar to
the 303 degrees conferred in 2001-2002.
Eleven of the 14 schools (78.6 percent) reporting enrollment in “other
master’s” degrees in Fall 2003 awarded degrees the preceding academic year.
A total of 64 post-master’s degrees
were awarded during the 2002-2003 academic year (Table
II-3-c-4).
A total of 82 doctoral degrees were
awarded by 20 of the 28 schools with doctoral programs in the 2002-2003
academic year. This is a notable
increase (26.2 percent) over the 65 awarded in 2001-2002. For the schools with doctoral graduates this
year the number of graduates ranges from ten to one.
Enrollment
by Gender and Ethnic Origin (Table II-4)
Enrollment figures for the 2003 Fall term were requested for each of the
degrees defined for Table II-1 divided by gender and ethnic origin using the
ethnic origin classifications used for Table II-3. Data are reported for all 56 schools with
accredited-ALA master’s programs. Table
II-4 is similar to Table II-3 in that both deal with distributions by gender
and ethnic origin. However, Table II-3
addressed these distributions for graduates of degrees, while Table II-4
reports enrolled students.
Table II-4-a
indicates the number of students enrolled in Fall 2003 in schools for each
degree level distributed by gender and ethnic origin categories. These figures show that enrollments remain
predominately White (68.8 percent) [2]. The 1,133 Black students represent the next
largest ethnic group (5.6 percent).
Hispanic enrollment remains low at 3.7 percent, as does Asian or Pacific
Islander representation at 4.4 percent. The
83 American Indian students constitute 0.4 percent of total enrollment.
Table
II-4-a-1 reports student enrollment by ethnic origin for all degrees by
school. In viewing these data one can
observe that
While these raw numbers are
interesting, it is perhaps more informative and meaningful to look at what
percentage students of a particular ethnic group constitute of a school's total
enrollment. This might more effectively
indicate how a school is meeting its obligation to provide diversity in its
student enrollment. When viewed as a
percentage of total enrollment, the two HBUs, Clark Atlanta and North Carolina
Central, are found to have the largest percentage of Black students at 81.5 and
41.4 percent respectively. Pratt follows
distantly at 15.9 percent Black enrollment followed by
The 2000 census data for the
Hispanic population in the
Enrollment at the bachelor's degree
level (Table
II-4-c-1) represents the most even distribution of students across the
different ethnic categories in terms of their percentages in the 2000
The ethnic distribution of students
pursuing the ALA‑accredited master’s – LS degree in Fall 2002 is
presented for each school in Table
II-4-c-2-LS. For the 48 schools
reporting ethnic data, their 11,127 White students constitute 78.2 percent of
the students in those programs.[5] Black students comprise 4.8 percent of that
enrollment, roughly two-fifths of their 12.3 percent of the 2000
When the ethnic composition of each
school’s ALA‑accredited master’s – LS enrollment is examined (Table
II-4-c-2-LS), some interesting distributions become evident. Schools with a higher number of Black
students (more than 25) are primarily programs located at historically Black
universities and at universities situated in large metropolitan areas.
The two HBUs that have ALA‑accredited
master's programs (Clark Atlanta and North Carolina Central) also have the
highest percentage of Black students in their student body although there is a
wide difference in those percentages (85.6 and 28.1 percent respectively). It is interesting to note that, although an
HBU, North Carolina Central has a White student enrollment of 60.8
percent. In terms of Black students
constituting a percentage of total enrollment, following the two HBUs, the next
highest percentages are at
Figures for the 659 Hispanic
students pursuing the ALA‑accredited master’s – LS degree reveal that
Puerto Rico (104) has the largest number of Hispanic students followed closely
by
When
viewed in terms of percentage of total