STUDENTS

by
Jerry D. Saye

with the assistance of Katherine M. Wisser

[Editor's Note]: For a complete listing of schools that submitted data for this year's report, please click the
list of schools. To view the questionnaire used to gather data for this chapter, please click the questionnaire.


Part Two of the ALISE statistical questionnaire requested schools to 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 Graduate" and "Other Undergraduate") or the schools elected not to provide the requested data for a variety of reasons. As a result, row totals in some tables are greater than the separate counts of cells in that row and for the total of a column. 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.

All 56 ALA schools participated in the survey (7 Canadian and 49 US). Because data for similar data elements, e.g., enrollment by program level, international student enrollment, etc., were submitted by schools on separate tables, it is possible that some subtotals and totals may vary slightly from table to table due to differences in data supplied. To minimize this problem efforts were made to make these data agree, but it is recognized that it has not been totally removed from the tables that follow. In a few cases, editorial changes were made to tables to obtain agreement among tables. These editorial changes have been footnoted. This inconsistency should not cause major problems in that the numbers usually vary only slightly.

In all but a few instances, all schools that reported enrollment for a specific program level are included in all tables for that program level regardless of whether data were reported. In those situations where data were not reported a footnote to the table has been used to indicate the schools with enrollment who did not report data. Also, footnotes have been supplied indicating schools not included in totals and means. Schools which offer a particular program that would have no enrollment in that program this year are not included in any tables for that program level.

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 school's representative 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 ALA 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 all 56 schools. 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 might differ 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 1999 Fall term were requested for each of eight program levels:

  • Bachelor's
  • ALA-Accredited Master's -- Library Science
  • ALA-Accredited Master's -- Information Science
  • Other Master's
  • Post-Master's
  • Doctoral
  • Other Graduate
  • Other Undergraduate

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 ALA, regardless of whether offered on or off campus. Do not include students taking courses as cognate or service courses. Report them as "Other Graduate."

ALA-Accredited Master's -- Information Science: Include here only those students working towards a separate master's degree in information science accredited by ALA, regardless of whether offered on or off campus. Students workings towards an information science degree not accredited by ALA should be reported as "Other Master's." Do not include students taking courses as cognate or service courses. Report them as "Other Graduate."

Other Master's: Include here those students working towards a master's degree not accredited by ALA offered by the 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.

Although the questionnaire was designed to collect data separately for ALA-accredited master's in library science and ALA-accredited master's in information science degrees, only two schools provided data that could be used. Several schools did report data for ALA-accredited master's -- information science but later changed their data submission when they found that those data had been reported erroneously. This resulted in the two schools reporting for the accredited IS master's category. Accordingly, in the interest of simplicity of reporting, all ALA-accredited master's data, whether LS or IS, were reported under "ALA Accredited Master's" rather than differentiated. In subsequent sections of the report, mention will be made of data being requested for five program levels in order to have that statement agree with the tables that follow, although in reality data for six program levels had been originally sought.

Schools were requested to provide totals as well as 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 called for 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.

Although on-campus and off-campus students were to be included in the data submitted, an additional line on the questionnaire also asked for separate FTE data for off-campus students.

Table II-1-a-1 is a summary table presenting the number and percentage of full-time and part-time students, divided by gender, for each of the seven program levels as well as total enrollment figures. Additionally, the percentage of full-time versus part-time students is presented. The total enrollment of 18,699 is down 6.4 percent from the 19,984 reported last year and below the 18,901 reported for Fall 1997. ALA-accredited master's programs account for the majority (60.1 percent) of ALA School enrollment. Students in "other master's" degree programs account for 7.1 percent of total enrollment. Bachelor's degree programs continue to rise in the percentage that these students comprise of total enrollment -- 10.1 percent this year. The growing number of schools offering a doctoral degree (29) report a total enrollment for those programs of 743 students or 4 percent of total enrollment. Post-master's students comprise less than 1.3 percent of total enrollment.

All degree levels, except the bachelor's degree, have the majority of their students in a part-time status. At the bachelor's degree level 76.7 percent of the students are full-time. Doctoral programs come closest to an even distribution between full-time and part-time with 49.9 percent full-time and 50.1 percent part-time. More than two-thirds of all ALA-accredited master's (68.5 percent) and "other master's" (65.4 percent) degree students are in a part-time status.

When distribution by gender is examined, females are found to comprise over three-quarters (79 percent) of ALA-accredited master's enrollment. Gender distribution becomes more even for students in "other master's" degree programs with 51.2 percent male enrollment. At the doctoral level the gender division shows females continue in the majority by 14.4 percentage points.

Eleven of the 56 ALA schools offer a bachelor's degree. Table II-1-c-1a provides school-by-school enrollment figures. It shows that of the 1,895 students pursuing a bachelor's degree in Fall 1999 78 percent of these students are enrolled at one of three schools: Drexel (574), Syracuse (569), or Florida State (336). The four schools with the highest enrollments for the bachelor's degree (Drexel, Syracuse, Florida State, and Pittsburgh) account for 89.2 percent of all enrollment at this level.

Table II-1-c-2a reports ALA-accredited master's enrollment (number) for each school. It illustrates the wide range of program sizes across the 56 ALA schools - from the five largest programs, Kent State (502), Dominican (497), Simmons (488), Wayne State (393), and South Carolina (389) to the three schools with fewer than 70 students: Dalhousie (68) Clark Atlanta, and, Southern Mississippi (61 each). Ten schools have ALA-accredited master's enrollment of less than 100 students.

The distribution of full-time to part-time students reported in that table also shows wide variation among the schools. Four schools have more than three-fourths of their ALA-accredited master's students in a full-time status (Wisconsin -Madison (91.9), Montréal (88.5), North Carolina - Chapel Hill (83.1), and McGill (81). Two other schools approach that level: Alberta (73.5) and Michigan (72.5).

It is of note that all six schools with the highest percentage of full-time enrollment have two-year master's programs, although they do not represent all schools with two year programs. Sixteen schools (28.6 percent) have 80 percent or more of their ALA-accredited master's enrollment as part-time. The schools with the highest percentage of part-time enrollment are Kent State (99.4), Long Island (94.7), Syracuse (93.1), Queens (92.7), and North Carolina - Greensboro (92.3).

The variation in full-time versus part-time enrollment can have a noticeable impact on the size of enrollment when that enrollment is viewed in terms of FTE (Full-Time Equivalent). From that perspective who the largest schools are changes considerably. The program with the largest ALA-accredited master's enrollment in terms of FTE is Texas (286.2) followed by Florida State (268.8), Illinois (250.1), South Florida (238.7) and Indiana (236.5). The five smallest programs in terms of FTE reside at Dalhousie and Iowa (56 each), St. John's (46.8), San Jose (43.5), and Clark Atlanta (41.9). Eleven schools have an ALA-accredited master's FTE enrollment of under 75 students.

Eighteen ALA schools report enrollment for "other master's" degrees (Table II-1-c-3a) in addition to their ALA-accredited master's enrollment. The mean enrollment figure of 70.1 students per school is skewed by the large enrollments of two schools: Drexel (338) and Pittsburgh (320). The enrollments at these two schools constitute 49.4 percent of all "other master's" enrollment. Except for Syracuse (153) and Indiana (123) the other 14 ALA schools offering the "other master's" degree have enrollments under 100 students with eight reporting fewer than 20 students: (Albany (16), Alabama (12), Southern Connecticut (10), St. John's (5), Wayne State (5), NC - Greensboro (3), North Texas (2), and McGill (1).

Post-master's programs historically have had comparatively low enrollments compared to other programs offered and Table II-1-c-4a confirms that this continues. Of the 28 schools reporting enrollment data that could be used for their post-master's program only four schools (Syracuse (103), South Carolina (23), Florida State (18) and Southern Connecticut (16)) had more than 10 students in their programs. The high percentage of part-time students in post-master's programs (83 percent results in the mean FTE (4.4) being very low (Table II-1-c-4b)). Even that FTE figure is high given the high enrollment at Syracuse.

Nearly half (29) of the 56 ALA schools offer a doctoral program (Table II-1-c-5a). The 743 doctoral students enrolled in these programs in Fall 1999 represent a 7.2 percent increase in doctoral student enrollment over that of Fall 1998. These doctoral students are distributed quite unevenly across the schools. The doctoral program at Pittsburgh is by far the largest with 85 students followed by the programs at North Texas (70). No other school has more than 50 doctoral students. Nearly half the schools (12) have enrollments of less than 20 students. Although nearly half (49.9 percent) of all doctoral students are full-time, this distribution of full-time to part-time varies widely from school to school. Indeed, a few schools report all, or most, of their doctoral enrollment as full-time while for others the reverse is true. In some cases, individual school percentages are heavily influenced by small enrollments.

Table II-1-e provides the number of FTE off-campus students each ALA school had registered for the 1999 Fall term. Over three-quarters (43) of the schools had off-campus enrollment with several schools having a very sizable off-campus enrollment. By far the largest off-campus program is at South Carolina (153.3) followed by Emporia (141), Florida State (131.2), Drexel (126) and, Illinois (118). No other programs had an off-campus FTE enrollment over 90. Seven schools had off-campus enrollment of ten or fewer FTE students. Seventeen schools reported they had no off-campus students or elected not to report these data. The total FTE off-campus enrollment of 1680.5 represents an increase of 4.2 percent which follows on the 11.1 percent in the Fall of 1998. When the mean is calculated to include only those schools with some off-campus enrollment (39), the mean enrollment is 43.1 FTE students.


Course Enrollments (Table II-2)

Schools were requested to report the number of students enrolled in courses or sections of courses during the 1999 Fall term. Enrollments were reported in increments of five students. It was requested that individual study and reading courses not be included in these counts.

Table II-2-a-1 reports course and section enrollment distributed across the 11 enrollment groups for courses offered in Fall 1999 by each ALA school. The number of courses offered that term ranged from 9 (Arizona) to 135 (Florida State) with a mean of 39.3 courses offered per school. Five schools (8.9 percent) offered fewer than 20 courses that term down from the ten schools who offered courses at that level in Fall 1998. At the other end of the spectrum twelve school (21.4 percent) offered more than 50 courses in the Fall of 1999 compared to nine schools at the level in 1998.

The majority of courses offered in ALA schools have enrollments of 1-5, 6-10, 11-15 and 16-20 students. These four course enrollment groups account for 62.3 percent of all courses offered. The total number of courses with enrollments of 36-40, 41-45 and 46-50 students was relatively small (76, 46, and 26 respectively) when compared to the frequencies of other enrollment groups. The number of courses offered in the 41-45 and 46-50 enrollment groups was similar to that reported last year. However, the 36-40 enrollment group witnessed a rise in the number of courses offered from 46 reported last year to 76 for Fall 1999, a 65.2 percent increase. Despite this increase courses offered in these three larger enrollment groups accounted for only 6.7 percent of all courses offered. The number of courses offered with more than 50 students in Fall 1999 remained identical to the number offered last year, 57. The questionnaire requested schools to comment on courses with enrollments over 50 students. From these comments (Table II-2-a-2), it is apparent that larger courses generally are often used to present core material, distance education or undergraduate courses.

As mentioned above, schools were asked not to include independent studies or individual reading courses in their submission of course enrollment data. Rather, they were asked 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 ALA school. This table reveals the wide variation in the number offered from none at Clark Atlanta, McGill, Michigan, North Carolina - Greensboro, North Texas, and St. John's to 114 at Florida State and 106 at Syracuse.


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 1998-99 academic year, including summer sessions, for five degree categories:

  • ALA-Accredited Master's
  • Other Master's
  • Post-Master's
  • Doctoral
  • Bachelor's

In supplying these data, schools were requested to report the number of degrees and certificates aggregated by 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.

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 Pacific Islands. This area includes, for example, China, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands, Samoa, and Taiwan. The Indian subcontinent includes the countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan.
B Black, not of Hispanic Origin – a person having origin in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
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 were to be included in this category. Persons from Brazil, Guyana, Surinam, or Trinidad, for example, were to be classified according to their race and not necessarily included in the Hispanic category. Additionally, this category did not include persons from Portugal. These individuals would be classified according to race.
W White, not of Hispanic origin – a person having origin in any of the original peoples of Europe, North America, or the Middle East.

Additionally, two other reporting categories were also used:

I International students – all students who were not US (or Canadian for Canadian schools) citizens, permanent residents, or landed immigrants.
NA Students for whom ethnic information was not available.

Canadian schools were not required to provide ethnic data, although they could elect to do so. However, they were required to provide totals.

Table II-3-a reports the number of degrees awarded at each program level distributed by gender and ethnic origin. A total of 6,071 bachelor's, master's, post-master's, and doctoral degrees were awarded by ALA schools during 1998-99. Female graduates accounted for 72.7 percent of all degrees awarded. This male/female distribution varies considerably among the different degree programs by percentage, with females in the majority for three of the five degree programs. From a high of 78.9 percent of ALA-accredited master's degrees awarded to females, their percentage drops to 61.3 and 58.8 percent for the doctoral and post-master's degrees respectively. The two degrees that have males as the majority of their graduates ("other master's" (58.4) and bachelor's (63.7)) are those most likely to be associated with information science.

The figures in Table II-3-a also demonstrate that the graduates of programs offered by ALA schools continue to be predominately White (75.4 percent). Blacks are the next most represented ethnic group (4.6 percent), followed by Asian or Pacific Islanders (3.4 percent) and persons of Hispanic origin (2.8). Native Americans constitute less than one-half percent (0.4) of graduates of the five degree programs. Black graduates accounted for 12.4 percent of post-master's degrees and 6.5, 4.8, and 4 percent of all doctoral, "other master's," and ALA-accredited master's degrees respectively in 1998-99. The presence of black graduates of the bachelor's degree programs is very notable. Overall, they comprised 10.1 percent of all graduates of these programs. It is only in the bachelor's and post-master's programs that black graduates come close to matching their representation in the general US population.

For each degree program the number of degrees and certificates awarded varied widely from school to school. For the eleven schools that awarded bachelor's degrees in 1998-99 (Table II-3-c-1) Syracuse (113) and Pittsburgh (90) conferred more than half (55.5 percent) of the 366 degrees conferred. Only Drexel (72) and Florida State (63) approached that level. Together these four schools conferred 92.3 percent of the bachelor's degrees awarded. None of the remaining seven schools had more than eight graduates of their bachelor's program.

At the ALA-accredited master's degree level (Table II-3-c-2) 5,046 degrees were awarded in 1998-99 compared to 5,024 in 1997-98, reversing a slight decline noted for the preceding two academic years. One schools stands out in terms of the number of degrees awarded, San Jose with 370. No other school surpasses the 200 degree mark. The closest being Simmons with 195 degrees awarded. Five schools awarded 150 to 200 degrees: Simmons, Wayne State (182), Texas (178), Kent State (160), and Illinois (150). This past academic year, 1998-99, 12 schools conferred fewer than 40 degrees compared to five schools at that level in 1997-98. Three of the 12 schools at this level conferred less than 30 ALA-accredited master's degrees -- Alberta (29), Puerto Rico (23), and St. John's (21).

The 15 schools that awarded the 500 "other master's" degrees in 1998-99 varied widely their number of graduates (Table II-3-c-3). Syracuse (111) and Pittsburgh (109) had by far the most graduates followed by Drexel (91). These three schools conferred the majority (62.7 percent) of the "other master's" degrees as they had in the previous academic year. Six schools conferred fewer than ten "other master's" degrees -- Southern Connecticut (9), Albany (6), Missouri (5), NC - Greensboro (3), Alabama (2), and St. John's (1).

The 40 post-master's degree conferred in 1998-99 (Table II-3-c-4) continues to reflect the limited enrollment in these programs. Only 12 of the 28 schools (41.4 percent) having enrollment in a post-master's program in Fall 1999 had graduates of their program in 1998-99. The number of post-master's degrees given by Syracuse (55) stands out representing 56.7 percent of all such degrees awarded. The next highest number of degrees awarded was by Indiana (8). Six of the 12 conferred three or less post-master's degrees. Seventeen schools with enrollment in a post-master's program conferred no degrees in 1998-99

Sixty-two doctoral degrees were conferred by 19 of the 29 schools (65.5 percent) during 1998-99 (Table II-3-c-5). This figure is similar to the 63 doctoral degrees awarded in 1997-98. Three schools, Albany (9), Indiana (8), and Pittsburgh (8), account for 40 percent of these graduates. The long duration of doctoral program in can account for uneven graduation rates for any given school. For example, Florida State reported 6 graduates of their doctoral program in 1997-98 but had no graduates this past academic year.


Enrollment by Gender and Ethnic Origin (Table II-4)

Enrollment figures for the 1999 Fall term were requested for each of the program levels defined for Table II-1 divided by gender and ethnic origin using the ethnic origin classifications for Table II-3.

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 degree program graduates while Table II-4 addresses enrolled students.

Table II-4-a reports on the number of students enrolled in ALA schools for each program level distributed by gender and ethnic origin categories. These figures show that students remain predominately White (74.7 percent). The 1,084 Black students represent the next largest ethnic group (5.9 percent). Hispanic enrollment remains low at 3.2 percent as is Asian or Pacific Islander representation at 2.8 percent. The 76 American Indian or Alaskan Native students constitute 0.4 percent of total enrollment.1

Table II-4-a-1 reports student enrollment by ethnic origin for all program levels by school. In viewing these data one can observe that Florida State (96) and Syracuse (95) have the highest Black student enrollment of all 56 schools. No other school reports more than 72 Black students. Hispanic enrollment is greatest, as one might expect, at Puerto Rico (98). Perhaps somewhat surprising is at the school with the next highest Hispanic enrollment is Syracuse (54) followed by schools located in states with notable Hispanic populations: South Florida (49), Texas (47), Florida State (45), and North Texas (44). The next largest Hispanic enrollment is at Pratt with 25 students. Drexel reports a highest Asian or Pacific Islander enrollment with 110 students followed by Hawaii (57) and Pittsburgh (53). Syracuse follows with 38 Asian or Pacific Islander students. American Indian enrollment is not concentrated at any one school, although Oklahoma reports 12 American Indian students with the next highest enrollment of this ethnic group being 7 at NC Central.

While these raw numbers are interesting it is perhaps far 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 one finds that the two historically Black universities (HBUs), Clark Atlanta and NC Central have the largest percentage of Black students at 71.2 and 34 percent respectively. Pratt, with 21.5 percent Black enrollment, followed by Southern Mississippi (13.6 percent), and Louisiana State (12.2 percent) are the only schools whose Black enrollment exceeds, meets, or comes very close to the 2000 population estimates of the US Census Bureau2 of Blacks (12.8 percent). Only two other schools, Iowa and Florida State, have Black enrollments at 10 percent or higher.

The 2000 estimate of the Hispanic population in the US (11.7 percent) is met or nearly equaled by only two schools other than Puerto Rico -- Texas (12.4 percent) and South Florida (11.1 percent). Two other schools, Arizona and North Texas, have Hispanic enrollments in the 9 percent range. Six schools, in addition to the University of Hawaii, have Asian or Pacific Islander student enrollment that exceeds the 2000 US Census Bureau estimate for Asian or Pacific Islander of 4 percent. In ranked order from highest down they are Drexel, California Los Angeles, San Jose, NC Chapel Hill, Pittsburgh, Queens, and Pratt (ranging from 10 percent to 5.8 percent). The American Indian census estimate of 0.9 percent is equaled or exceeded by Oklahoma, NC Central, San Jose, Michigan, Maryland, and Emporia in order of decreasing percentage from 6.22 to 09 percent.

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 estimated percentages in the US population in 2000.3 At the 11 schools offering a bachelor's degree, White students constitute 64.8 percent of the enrollment followed by Black students with 10.9 percent. Asian or Pacific Islander comprise an additional 7.6 percent of enrollment for this degree with Hispanic students 3.6 percent.

The ethnic distribution of students pursuing the ALA-accredited master's degree is presented for each school in Table II-4-c-2. For the 51 schools that reported ethnic data, the 9,386 White students constitute 82.4 percent of the students in those programs.4 Black students make up 5.1 percent of that enrollment roughly a two-fifths of their 12.2 percent of the 2000 US population estimated by the US Census Bureau to be Black. Hispanic students and Asian or Pacific Islanders comprise 3.6 and 2.1 percent respectively of ALA-accredited master's enrollment compared to their 11.7 and 3.8 percents respectively of the estimated 2000 US population. Based on the comparison of their percentage of the population to enrollment in ALA-accredited master's programs, students of Hispanic origin continue to be the most under-represented, followed by Blacks.5

When the ethnic composition of each school's ALA-accredited master's enrollment is examined (Table II-4-c-2), some interesting distributions are evident. Schools with a higher number of Black students (more than 25) are limited to programs located at historically Black universities and, in a number of instances, at universities situated in large metropolitan areas . Pratt has the highest Black enrollment (61). There are six schools in the next tier of Black enrollment (more than 25 Black students) -- Clark Atlanta (42), Queens (38), Wayne State (38), North Carolina Central (35), Dominican (31), and Florida State (28). Nine of the 51 ALA schools (17.6 percent) reporting ethnic data indicated their Black student enrollment was either zero or one student. The two HBUs that have ALA-accredited master's programs (Clark Atlanta and NC Central) also have the highest percentage of Black students in their student body (68.9 and 26.5 percent respectively). It is interesting to note that although an HBU, NC Central has a White student enrollment of 62.9 percent. Pratt (21.8 percent), Louisiana State (14.4 percent), and Southern Mississippi (11.5 percent) are the only other schools where Black students comprise more than 10 percent of ALA-accredited master's student enrollment.

Figures for the 404 Hispanic students pursuing the ALA master's degree are heavily skewed in that 24.5 percent (99) of these students are enrolled at Puerto Rico which reports having only one non-Hispanic student in its international student body -- an international student. Following Puerto Rico, Texas (45), South Florida (31), Pratt (25), North Texas (24), Florida State (23), and San Jose (21) are the schools having the largest Hispanic enrollments. There are nine schools with no Hispanic enrollment and another eight schools with only one Hispanic student each. Taken together these 17 schools comprise 33.3 percent of the ALA-accredited schools reporting ethnic data. When viewed in terms of percentage of total ALA accredited master's enrollment, excepting Puerto Rico because of its unusual status, only two schools have Hispanic enrollment that exceeds 10 percent -- Texas (13.1 percent and South Florida (12.1 percent).

At the 17 of 18 schools that reported enrollment data for their "other master's" student body (Table II-4-c-3) White students constitute 61.5 percent of total enrollment.6 Black students account for 5.9 percent of the "other master's" student body with Asian or Pacific Islanders accounting for a surprising 5.1 percent of enrollment given their much lower percentage for the ALA-accredited master's. Hispanic students are under-represented in "other master's" program even more severely than they were for the ALA-accredited degree representing only 1.5 percent of total enrollment. This is primarily accounted for by none of the five schools with the largest Hispanic enrollments for the ALA-accredited master's degree offering the "other master's" degree. North Carolina Central reports the largest Black enrollment with 28 students followed closely by Drexel with 19. Pittsburgh has the largest Asian or Pacific Islanders enrollment with 33 students. Drexel follows with 21.

At the doctoral level (Table II-4-c-5), students at schools reporting ethnicity White students constitute 56.8 percent of student enrollment.7 The lower percentage of White student enrollment at this program level is not accounted for by increased enrollment of other US ethnic groups, but rather by the 28.4 percent of total doctoral enrollment are international students. The 30 Black students comprise 4.3 percent of doctoral enrollment while Asian or Pacific Islanders are 1.7 percent, and Hispanics 1.7 percent. Overall, the involvement of all non-White ethnic groups at the doctoral level is minimal (8.3 percent). As was the case with the ALA-accredited master's degree, the distribution of non-white ethnic groups among the 25 schools with doctoral programs reporting ethnic enrollment data is uneven. Rutgers, with six students, has the largest enrollment of Black doctoral students. The schools with the next highest Black doctoral enrollment are Florida State and Pittsburgh with four students each. Twelve schools report enrollment of only one Black doctoral student while eight schools report having none. North Texas indicates that it has four Hispanic doctoral students while Illinois and Texas indicate having two students. Eighteen schools reporting ethnic data indicate that they have no Hispanic doctoral students. Evaluating the percentage of ethnic minority doctoral students is cautioned given the number of doctoral programs that are relatively small in size, thus the presence of one or two students within an ethnic minority can greatly change a school's ethnic distribution. Looking at schools with ten or more doctoral students Rutgers has the highest percentage of Black doctoral students with 12 percent. No other school has more than 10 percent. Again looking at schools with doctoral enrollment of ten or more students no school reports having more than 10 percent of their doctoral enrollment as Hispanic or Asian or Pacific Islander.


In-State/In-Province and Out-of-State/Out-of-Province Students (Table II-5)

For Table II-5 schools were requested to report the number of students officially enrolled in the Fall 1999 term according to their in-state/in-province and out-of-state/out-of-province status for each of the program levels defined for Table II-1.

Tables II-5-c-1 to II-5-c-7 report enrollments for each program level on a school-by-school basis. At the bachelor's degree level (Table II-5-c-1) the information is less than ideal because two of the schools with the largest bachelor's programs (Pittsburgh and Syracuse) did not identify the status of their bachelor's students. The students in those two programs numbering 780 account for 41.2 percent of students in bachelor's programs at the 11 schools. For the remaining nine schools enrollment at the bachelor's level reflect what is believed to be typical enrollment at the level -- a large proportion of students from in-state (82.9 percent). This is expected given that seven of these nine schools are public universities.

At the ALA-accredited master's degree level (Table II-5-c-2) the data reveal the local or regional nature of enrollments at most schools. For the 51 schools that reported the requested data, 81.9 percent of their students are from in-state/in-province. Only two schools (Rhode Island, 53.6 percent and Emporia, 50.3 percent) report more than half of their ALA-accredited master's students were from out-of-state. Three additional schools (North Carolina Chapel Hill (43.7 percent), Dalhousie and Maryland (41.2 percent each)) indicated that at least 40 percent of their students were from out-of-state/out-of-province. Fifteen schools have less than 10 percent of their ALA-accredited master's enrollment from out-of-state. Southern Connecticut (1.8 percent), North Carolina Greensboro (1.2 percent), South Florida (0.8 percent), and Puerto Rico (0 percent) report less than 2 percent of their enrollment consists of out-of-state students.

Data for "other master's" programs (Table II-5-c-3) encountered a similar problem to that which occurred with bachelor's degree enrollment -- three of the 18 programs that reported data did not indicate the in-state/out-of-state status of its students. Two of those schools, Pittsburgh and Syracuse, have a combined enrollment that represents 35.5 percent of all "other master's" enrollment. The percentage of in-state "other master's" students (66.6 percent) is considerably lower than it is for the ALA-accredited master's degree.

Doctoral programs appear to reflect what one might expect of a research degree -- the willingness of students to travel out-of-state/out-of-province to pursue their education. At the doctoral level (Table II-5-c-5), the percentage of students enrolled at schools that were able to supply these data have an in-state/in-province status 62.3 percent. One should note that this figure may be affected by the ability at some schools for students to change their residency status while enrolled in a program -- something more likely during a program of longer duration. For the 25 schools that provided residency data, ten schools (Alberta, Drexel, Florida State, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Rutgers, Simmons, Texas Woman's, Wisconsin - Madison) have at least 50 percent of their enrollment from out-of-state.


International Students (Table II-6)

For Table II-6 schools were requested to indicate the number and gender of their international students officially enrolled in the Fall 1999 term for each of the program levels defined for Table II-1.

The 1,119 international students at all program levels, when compared against the enrollment figures reported in Table II-1, constitute 6 percent of students attending the 56 ALA schools. These 1,119 students represent a 18.4 percent increase from the 945 international students reported for Fall 1998 and well above the 714 reported for Fall 1997. It is likely that this two year increase in enrollment is due to the improvement of the Asian economies from their financial crisis of 1997 which likely attributed to much of the decline.. When individual program levels are examined, ALA-accredited master's programs are found to have 3.2 percent of their students from other countries. In contrast international students are a major component of "other master's" and doctoral degree programs. The 280 international students pursuing "other master's" degrees constitute 21 percent of that enrollment. The presence of international students is even more pronounced at the doctoral level where the 210 international students comprise more than a quarter (28.3 percent) of doctoral student enrollment. International student participation in bachelor's degree programs remains minimal -- 6.7 percent of bachelor's degree enrollment. International student participation in post-master's programs has witnessed a marked increase in 1999 with enrollment increasing to 80 students (32.4 percent of a post-master's enrollment).

Several schools stand out for the number of international students enrolled in their degree programs (Table II-6-a-1 ). Syracuse (221), Pittsburgh (159), and Drexel (99) clearly stand out for their sizeable international enrollments. No other school has more than 50 international students. Rutgers (48) and Florida State (46) comprise the next tier of schools. All of the remaining 51 schools have at wide range of international students -- from 31 at Illinois to 1 at Puerto Rico. Every school has at least one international student.

When examined at the degree level some noticeable differences in international student representation exist. Montréal has the highest ALA-accredited master's international student enrollment (20) followed by Illinois and Michigan (18 each), Rutgers (16) and Louisiana State and McGill with 15 students each. Seven other schools have ten or more international students in their ALA-accredited master's programs (Table II-6-c-2). Pittsburgh had by far the highest international student enrollment for an "Other Master's" program in the Fall 1999 with 95 students followed by Syracuse with 72 (Table II-6-c-3). No other school approaches this level -- Drexel has the next highest international student enrollment with 39 students. No other school had more than 16 international "other master's students. Seven schools had four or less. International student bachelor's degree enrollment is highest at Drexel (55) followed closely by Syracuse with 53 (Table II-6-c-1). No other program has more than 7 international students in its bachelor's program. It is surprising given Pittsburgh's large number of international students for its "other master's" program that its bachelor's degree program has but two international students. Pittsburgh, however, continues its strong international student presence at the doctoral level with 55 international students (Table II-6-c-5). No other program has more than 20 international doctoral students. Seventeen schools report that their doctoral programs have five or fewer international students. Historically schools have had very modest representation of international students in their post-master's program. This continues to be the case in Fall 1999 with one very notable exception -- Syracuse had 65 international students in its post-master's program (Table II-6-c-4).


International Students’ Country of Origin (Table II-7)

For Table II-7 schools were asked to report the country of origin of their international students enrollment for the 1999 Fall term for each of the program levels defined for Table II-1.

The data in this table (Table II-7-a) are arranged first by continent then sub-arranged alphabetically by country name. Asia, which covers a wide area of the world ranging from the Middle East to the Far East, has been further sub-divided into four regions to allow for more detailed analysis.

As might be expected, international students at ALA schools represent all continents except Antarctica. Asia is the continent that accounts for the majority of international students, providing slightly less than two-thirds (62.1 percent). When the regions of Asia are examined, the Far East/Southeast Asia region is found to contribute the greatest percentage of international students (48.4 percent). South Asia is a distant second with 8.4 percent. European countries contribute 11 percent of international student enrollment while South America continues to have minimal representation in LIS programs with only 2.5 percent. Equally small is Africa with 4.8 percent. Australia has the lowest level of international students at ALA schools with 0.1 percent (1 student).

When the number of students from individual countries is examined, it becomes readily apparent that China and South Korea are the countries providing the greatest number of international students (196 and 135 respectively). Three other Asian countries, Taiwan (84), India (80), and Thailand (63) form the next tier of countries of origin. Combined these five countries contribute half (50 percent) of all international student enrollment.

Given the relatively small international students enrollment in bachelor's degree programs it is not surprising that no country has a large number of students in these programs. South Korea has 12 students. No other country has more than five students enrolled for that degree. China with 73 students by far provides the most students pursuing the ALA-accredited master's degree. South Korea (28 and India (23) have the next largest representation. No other country provides more than 20 students for this degree. Taiwan and South Korea China and Taiwan are nearly equal in the number of students of their students enrolled in "other master's" programs (31and 30 respectively). South Korea provides more doctoral students (45) followed closely by China (40). No other country sends more than 25 doctoral students.


Enrollment by Age and Gender (Table II-8)

For Table II-8 schools were asked to report Fall 1999 enrollment divided by gender across nine age groups for each of the program levels defined for Table II-1.

Table II-8-a provides a summary for all program levels by age group and gender. Although the data in this table are incomplete due to the relatively large number of schools that were unable to provide age data (12.2 percent of the students could not be classified by age), they nonetheless provide some insight into the age distribution of students at ALA schools.8

For the ALA-accredited master's and "other master's" programs, the 25-29 age group by far has the greatest percentage of students (23.7 and 29.4 percent respectively). The 25-29 age group also had the highest percentage of post-master's students (25.3). This figure though is heavily skewed by the 46 post-master's students reported by Syracuse. If Syracuse is removed from the calculation then the 45-49 age group accounts for the largest percentage of students (24.7) with the remaining distributed rather evenly across the 30-54 age range. Overall, doctoral students are quite evenly divided among the six age groups 25-54 except for the 30-34 age group. That group with 139 students accounts for 18.7 percent of doctoral enrollment. The other age groups 25-49 have between 93 and 127 students (12.5 to 17.1 percent).


Students by Gender and Highest Degree Held (Table II-9)

This table is not currently in use. The table was last used in 1980.


Students by Undergraduate Major, Gender and Program Level (Table II-10)

This table is not currently in use. The table was last used in 1980.


Scholarship and Fellowship Aid (Table II-11)

Data for the number and amount of scholarship or other non-work-related financial aid awarded in fiscal year 1998-99 were requested for each of the seven program levels as defined for Table II-1. Each school was asked to separate the data by the gender of awardee. The instructions for compiling the data stated that awards directly administered by the school (regardless of whether the funds were from the school, the parent institution, federal or non-federal external sources) were to be included but awards (including assistantships and work/study) made by outside sources directly to the student were to be excluded. Additionally, this year schools were asked to indicate whether they offered scholarship and fellowship aid to part-time students.

Given the difference in the value of the Canadian and US dollars, separate means are provided for Canadian and US schools. Similarly, with the costs associated with enrolling in a public university generally being quite different from those at a private university, it is reasonable to suspect that the amount of financial aid awarded by these different types of schools would also differ. Accordingly, for US schools, separate means are reported for public and private universities as well as a combined mean.9

Table II-11-a provides a summary of aid awarded for each of the seven program levels for the 1998-99 fiscal year. The total value of awards, $6,202,012, represents a 1.9 percent increase in funding over 1997-98 and begins to offset the 5.8 percent decrease in funding that occurred in 1996-97. The amount of money invested in doctoral students this year of $984,433 continues a decline in doctoral funding first noted in 1997-98. This year's doctoral funding is down 16.8 percent from last year's reduced level. Since 1996-97 expenditures on doctoral scholarships and fellowships has declined 49.5 percent. For the same period the totals for ALA-accredited and "Other" master's degree funding increased with a decline this past year in funding for bachelor's and post-master's scholarships and fellowships. All other degree levels rose. Similarly, this decline has been reflected in the average size of a doctoral award from $12,326 in 1996-97, to $9,174 in 1997-98, and $7,812 in 1998-99 (a 36.6 percent decline during that period). This compares to an average $3,294 for ALA-accredited master's program students and $5,107 for "other master's" students. The ALA-accredited master's scholarship and fellowship average award experienced a decrease of 11.7 percent over last year while the average award to "other master's" students rose 8.6 percent. Both ALA-accredited and "other master's" awards given in 1998-99 increased from the level of 1997-98. From 1,235 to 1,416 for ALA-accredited master's and from 59 to 107 for "other master's."

This year was the first in which schools were asked whether they provided scholarship and fellowship aid to part-time students. This was a general question not limited to any specific degree. Thirty-three of the 50 schools (66 percent) (Table-II-11-a-2) who responded to this question indicated that such aid is available for part-time students. Interestingly, only 1 of the 6 Canadian schools (16.7 percent) provide such aid compared to 72.7 percent of US schools. Private US universities make scholarships and fellowship aid available to part-time students to a greater degree than do US public universities (85.7 vs. 70.3 percent respectively).

Table II-11-c-2 reports scholarship and fellowship aid for the ALA-accredited master's degree. The mean number of awards given by Canadian and US schools widened this year over past years. (20.3 vs. 27 respectively). This represents a reduction in the mean number awarded by Canadian schools compared to last year and an increase in the mean number by US schools. The mean amount awarded was $2,895 per Canadian school compared to $3,714 per US public university and $2,489 per US private university. Another notable difference in the mean figures on this table is the mean number of awards given by private US universities (50.2) versus public (22.3).

The figures in Table II-11-c-3 for Other Master's is perhaps most informative for the number of schools that did not report any scholarship or fellowship aid for students pursuing these degrees. Only ten of 19 schools reporting enrollment in these programs (53.3 percent) indicate any funding for these students. The mean amount awarded was $776 per Canadian school compared to $7,669 per US public university and $4,244 per US private university -- a very sizeable difference between the two types of US schools and an even greater difference for the Canadian schools. Another notable difference in the mean figures on this table is the mean number of awards given by private US universities (5) versus public (10.6).

Financial support of post-master students continues to be severely limited with only two of the 27 schools (7.4 percent) with a post-masters program indicating that they provide scholarship or fellowship support (Table II-11-c-4).

Table II-11-c-5 reports on scholarship and fellowship aid for doctoral students. One notable difference in the mean figures on this table is the mean number of awards given by Canadian universities (8.6) versus US (5.8) A doctoral student at a Canadian university receives an average award of $9,675 compared to $7,021 for the average doctoral award at a US university. The average size of a scholarship or fellowship award from a private US university is $23,800 compared to a similar average award at a public university of $6,601. It should be noted, however, that only one of four US private universities submitted data thus possibly skewing the resulting figure.


Assistantships (Table II-12)

Data were requested for the number and value of assistantships awarded by each school, divided by the gender of the awardee, using the program level definitions of Table II-1 for students enrolled in Fall 1999. Please note the difference between the figures in this table which are for the Fall term versus Table II-11 for scholarships and fellowships which report the value of those awards for the entire fiscal year.

Similar to the reporting for Table II-11 the presentations of Table-II-12 include a calculation of separate means for Canadian and US schools with a further division of US schools into public and private institutions.

Table II-12-a provides a summary of assistantships awarded for each of the seven program levels. The total value of awards, $11,067,677, represents a 4 percent increase in funding over that reported last year.

As was the case for scholarships and fellowship aid, this year was the first in which schools were asked whether they provided assistantships to part-time students. This was a general question not limited to any specific degree. Fifteen of the 46 schools (32.6 percent) (Table-II-12-a-2) who responded to this question indicated that assistantships are available for part-time students. The availability of assistantships is not nearly as great as it is for scholarship and fellowship aid for part-time students (66 percent) noted previously (Table II-11). Only 1 of the 5 Canadian schools who responded (20 percent) provide assistantship aid compared to 34.2 percent of US schools. The awarding of assistantships at US public universities and US private universities is very similar (34.3 vs. 33.3 percent respectively). This contrasts with the large difference in scholarship and fellowship aid for part-time students at these two types of US universities.10

Table II-12-c-2 reports assistantships awarded to students in ALA-accredited master's degree programs. The mean number of awards given by Canadian and US schools is quite different (12.2 vs. 17.7 respectively). While scholarships and fellowships on average continue to be awarded at a far higher number by US private schools compared to US public schools the reverse holds true for assistantships where US public universities awarded an average of 19.4 assistantships per school compared to 8.2 by US private schools. Differences in the mean amount of an assistantship awarded by a Canadian school versus a US school continues ($1,544 compared to $9,266 respectively -- $9,456 public, $16,498 private).

The figures in Table II-12-c-3 for "other master's" degrees, as was the case with scholarship and fellowship aid, is informative for the continued increase in the number of schools that reported assistantship funding for these students. This year 11 schools offer such assistance compared to ten last year.

Similarly, as was the case for scholarship and fellowship aid, assistantship support of post-master's students is extremely limited with only three of the 29 schools (10.3 percent) that have a post-master's program indicating they provide assistantships (Table II-12-c-4).

Table II-12-c-5 reports the number and value of assistantships awarded doctoral students. There is a difference this year in the mean number of assistantships awarded by Canadian versus US universities (6.5 and 8.2 respectively). That difference is more extreme in terms of the average size of an assistantship award -- $3,521 Canadian vs. $19,101 for US. Differences in the average number of assistantships awarded to doctoral students at US public and private universities are minimal (8.2 vs. 8.0 respectively). That difference between the two types of universities is more noticeable when the when the value of the average assistantship is examined. Doctoral assistantships at US public universities average $19,350 contrasted with similar awards at private universities averaging $15,250.


Tuition and Fees (Table II-13)

Tuition and fee data for the 1999 Fall term were requested. These data included

  • total cost of a degree obtained without transfer credit
  • cost of tuition for only one credit

In reporting fees schools were asked not to include those fees associated with particular courses or labs. Data were requested separately for in-state/in-province and out-of-state/out-of-province students for each of the seven program levels defined for Table II-1.

Table II-13-c-2 presents the full degree costs and tuition for one-credit for the ALA-accredited master's degree. Differences between in-state and out-of-state charges are valid only for public universities in the United States. Private universities charge the same fee regardless of residency status.11 As expected, the cost for the degree in the US is generally higher at private schools with a mean cost of $21,276 compared to $7,204 for in-state and $17,518 for out-of-state students at public universities The least expensive ALA-accredited master's programs at private universities are provided by Clark Atlanta ($15,372), Dominican ($17,100), and Long Island ($18,180). The most expensive programs are offered by Catholic ($28,428) and Drexel ($27,656). One might expect that the cost of obtaining an ALA-accredited master's degree at a private US university would be higher than at any of the 49 US public schools at an in-state tuition level. This is the case except for Michigan where in-state tuition and fees ($20,632) is close to the mean cost of a degree at a private university.

Four schools (North Carolina - Greensboro ($3,077), Puerto Rico ($3,366), Southern Mississippi ($3,868), and Oklahoma ($3,999)) are able to offer the ALA-accredited master's degree to their in-state students for under $4,000. Nineteen schools can provide this degree to in-state residents for less than $5,000. The most expensive programs for in-state students are at Michigan ($20,632), Pittsburgh ($13,872), and Wisconsin - Milwaukee ($13,220).

Out-of-state students are able to obtain the ALA-accredited master's degree for under $10,000 at three schools (Southern Mississippi ($7,220), Queens ($8,367), and Buffalo ($9,146). There are ten US public universities that have out-of-state tuition and fees exceeding $20,000. Of these the most noticeable are Wisconsin -Madison ($32,085), Wisconsin -Milwaukee ($33,075), and Michigan ($41,844) -- all three well above the mean cost of this degree for both out-of-state students at public universities ($17,518) and students at private universities ($21,276). Viewed from the financial aspect only, it appears that private universities are competitive in their cost to degree with a number of public universities for out-of-state master's students.

Table II-13-c-5 provides tuition and fee information for the doctoral degree. Schools were requested to report only the cost for course work. The mean cost to an in-state doctoral student at a US public university is $13,554. The least expensive programs for in-state doctoral students are provided by Florida State ($4,672), Texas Woman's ($4,962), Emporia ($5,508), and Alabama ($5,744). In-state doctoral students encounter the highest cost to degree is at Michigan ($44,288). That figure is more than $16,500 higher than the cost at the next most expensive program (Pittsburgh, $27,744). For out-of-state students, the doctoral programs with the lowest degree costs are at Texas Woman's ($12,616), Emporia ($13,566), and Texas ($13,889). The most expensive programs for out-of-state doctoral students are at Michigan ($76,106) and California Los Angeles ($71,993). These costs are well above the out-of-state mean for US public universities ($30,167) and nearly $16,000 higher than the next most expensive doctoral program (Pittsburgh, $55,602).

Again, doctoral programs at private US schools are considerably more expensive than similar programs at most public universities. Only four of the 28 doctoral programs in the US are offered by private universities (Drexel, Long Island, Simmons, and Syracuse). Their mean cost is $32,398, with a range from $21,960 at Simmons to $45,474 at Syracuse.