Race/Ethnicity of Students: USD Counts and Ranges

Effective 2010-11, students can check off multiple categories to identify their race/ethnicity instead of checking a single box that "best describes them." In Fall 2012, 1055 students did check more than one box, and that makes it much more difficult to answer questions such as, "How many black students attend USD?" and "How many undergraduates are Latinos?" The people haven't changed, but the data have. We can count each student once by grouping students in the following distinct categories:

  Undergrad Paralegal Graduate Law* Total
Total students enrolled 5457 188 1498 962 8105
Minority students 32% 40% 30% 32% 32%
White only 57% 47% 52% 58% 56%
Unknown 5% 13% 10% 7% 6%
International on visa 6% 0% 8% 3% 6%
Percent: 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
 
Of all students enrolled in Fall 2012, 32% identified themselves as minority students by checking at least one non-White category, either alone or combined with other categories. We can also count the number of students who checked more than one category of race/ethnicity, including White:
 
  Undergrad Paralegal Graduate Law* Total
Multiple categories 15% 12% 9% 10% 13%
 

Our counts for the US Department of Education use a different method of grouping students. Please see Quick Facts table Race/Ethnicity of Students: Federal Reports for an explanation of the federal standards.

The table below presents the range of students enrolled Fall 2012 for each race/ethnicity category. The lower number is the percent of students who selected only that category, and the higher number is the percent of all students who selected the category, either by itself or in combination with other categories. We can't ask students which category they consider to be primary, but the answer presumably lies somewhere within the range. That is, the percentage of the 5457 undergraduates who consider themselves to be primarily Hispanic/Latino must be between 8% and 18%.
Ethnicity Undergrad Paralegal Graduate Law* Total
Hispanic or Latino 8 - 18% 17 - 23% 8 - 13% 5 - 10% 8 - 16%
 
Race Undergrad Paralegal Graduate Law* Total
American Indian or Alaska Native <1 - 3% <1 - 3% 1 - 2% <1 - 2% <1 - 2%
Asian 6 - 10% 6 - 12% 8 - 11% 15 - 18% 7 - 11%
Black or African American 3 - 4% 4 - 6% 5% 2 - 3% 3 - 4%
Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander <1 - 1% 1 - 3% <1 - 1% <1% <1 - 1%
White 57 - 69% 47 - 56% 52 - 59% 58 - 67% 56 - 67%


* Law includes students in JD (doctoral) and LLM (master's) programs.