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Table 4-16a. Engineering master's and doctoral student demographics, enrollment status, and funding: 2017

Characteristic All graduate students Master's students Doctoral students
Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Institutions 321 45.7 313 44.5 227 32.3
Schools 335 41.2 322 39.6 236 29.0
Units 2,190 11.7 1,965 10.5 1,339 7.1
All graduate students 165,581 100.0 96,756 100.0 68,825 100.0
Male 124,749 75.3 73,410 75.9 51,339 74.6
Female 40,832 24.7 23,346 24.1 17,486 25.4
U.S. citizens and permanent residentsa 75,160 45.4 46,470 48.0 28,690 41.7
Hispanic or Latino 7,537 4.6 5,130 5.3 2,407 3.5
Not Hispanic or Latino
American Indian or Alaska Native 208 0.1 134 0.1 74 0.1
Asian 10,483 6.3 6,416 6.6 4,067 5.9
Black or African American 3,842 2.3 2,505 2.6 1,337 1.9
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 86 0.1 56 0.1 30 *
White 46,637 28.2 28,281 29.2 18,356 26.7
More than one race 2,265 1.4 1,422 1.5 843 1.2
Unknown ethnicity and race 4,102 2.5 2,526 2.6 1,576 2.3
Temporary visa holders 90,421 54.6 50,286 52.0 40,135 58.3
Part time 42,474 25.7 33,224 34.3 9,250 13.4
Full time 123,107 74.3 63,532 65.7 59,575 86.6
First time 39,406 23.8 28,520 29.5 10,886 15.8
Primary source of support for full-time studentsb
Federal 21,754 13.1 3,904 4.0 17,850 25.9
DOD 4,739 2.9 1,415 1.5 3,324 4.8
DOE 2,241 1.4 350 0.4 1,891 2.7
HHS 2,711 1.6 187 0.2 2,524 3.7
NIH 2,436 1.5 147 0.2 2,289 3.3
Other HHS 275 0.2 40 * 235 0.3
NASA 667 0.4 136 0.1 531 0.8
NSF 8,258 5.0 914 0.9 7,344 10.7
USDA 280 0.2 78 0.1 202 0.3
Other 2,858 1.7 824 0.9 2,034 3.0
Nonfederal 52,903 31.9 17,371 18.0 35,532 51.6
Institutional 42,285 25.5 14,359 14.8 27,926 40.6
Domestic 8,485 5.1 2,303 2.4 6,182 9.0
Foreign 2,133 1.3 709 0.7 1,424 2.1
Self-support 48,450 29.3 42,257 43.7 6,193 9.0
Primary mechanism of support for full-time studentsb
Fellowships 9,298 5.6 1,661 1.7 7,637 11.1
Research assistantships 37,144 22.4 6,982 7.2 30,162 43.8
Teaching assistantships 17,004 10.3 5,519 5.7 11,485 16.7
Traineeships 1,450 0.9 574 0.6 876 1.3
Other types of support 58,211 35.2 48,796 50.4 9,415 13.7
Self-support 48,450 29.3 42,257 43.7 6,193 9.0
Other 9,761 5.9 6,539 6.8 3,222 4.7
* = value < 0.05%.
DOD = Department of Defense; DOE = Department of Energy; HHS = Department of Health and Human Services; NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration; NIH = National Institutes of Health; NSF = National Science Foundation; USDA = Department of Agriculture.
a Ethnicity and race data are available only for U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
b Funding data are available only for full-time students.
NOTE: Percentages may not add to total because of rounding.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 2017.