By: tito guerrero iii  (Page 5/7)

Students representing the four major ethnic minority groups in the United States achieved progress in all four major degree categories (Associates, Bachelors, Masters, and first-professional) from 1997 to 1998. The largest increase (9 percent) occurred at the Masters degree level. Female students made significant progress in 1998, earning more Bachelors and first-professional degrees than their male counterparts. As a result of gains across all degree categories, students from the four major ethnic minority groups achieved a small increase in their overall share of degrees conferred in 1998. These students earned more than 20 percent of all Bachelors degrees in 1998, an increase of nearly 1 percentage point from the previous year and a gain of nearly 4 percentage points since 1994. Still, they were underrepresented in degree awards compared with their enrollment levels (Harvey).

Hispanics recorded gains in all degree categories except for first-professional degrees in 1998. The increase of 7 percent in Associates degrees was the largest increase among ethnic minority groups. Of all the degree categories, Hispanic men showed their greatest progress at the Associates degree level in 1998, while Hispanic women posted their largest gains at the Bachelors and Masters degree levels. In 1998, Hispanic men recorded an 8.1 percent increase in Associate degrees, part of a continuing upward trend during the past decade. Other gains for Hispanic men included 6.3 percent gains in both Bachelors and Masters degrees and a 1 percent gain in first-professional degrees (Harvey).

Students from the four major ethnic minority groups achieved progress in nearly all major fields of study from 1997 to 1998 at both the Bachelors and Masters degree levels. At the Bachelors level, the largest increase occurred in biological/life sciences, while health professions had the greatest gain at the Masters level. Minority students only failed to show progress for the year in undergraduate engineering degrees. African Americans during 1998 experienced moderate gains in health professions and in the biological/life sciences degrees at the Bachelors level. However, they achieved only minimal gains at the Bachelors level in business and social science degrees, the two fields that traditionally are the most popular for African Americans. All four major ethnic minority groups continued to show sizable increases in health professions degrees at the Masters level in 1998. They achieved an increase of 32.6 percent in this category, including gains of 24.3 percent for African Americans and 24.8 percent for Hispanics (Harvey).

The number of Doctoral degrees earned by students from the four major ethnic minority groups increased by 4.4 percent from 1997 to 1998. That increase, however, was due entirely to the increases among women. Overall, these students achieved a gain of more than 88 percent in Doctoral degrees during the most recent ten-year period. The number of African Americans earning Doctoral degrees increased by 9.8 percent in 1998, which is more than 8 percent higher than the 1997 percent change. However, for the second consecutive year, African American men registered a decline in the number of Doctoral degrees earned. Hispanics recorded a 13.7 percent increase in the number of Doctoral degrees earned in 1998, when the number surpassed the 1,000 level for the second consecutive year. Hispanics achieved progress of more than 104 percent in the number of Doctoral degrees earned during the past decade (Harvey).