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Table 4-7a. Biological and biomedical sciences 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 502 71.4 473 67.3 285 40.5
Schools 574 70.5 531 65.2 340 41.8
Units 2,586 13.8 1,503 8.0 1,816 9.7
All graduate students 85,217 100.0 33,926 100.0 51,291 100.0
Male 36,815 43.2 12,996 38.3 23,819 46.4
Female 48,402 56.8 20,930 61.7 27,472 53.6
U.S. citizens and permanent residentsa 67,673 79.4 29,106 85.8 38,567 75.2
Hispanic or Latino 6,748 7.9 2,957 8.7 3,791 7.4
Not Hispanic or Latino
American Indian or Alaska Native 252 0.3 97 0.3 155 0.3
Asian 7,964 9.3 3,615 10.7 4,349 8.5
Black or African American 4,672 5.5 2,702 8.0 1,970 3.8
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 134 0.2 69 0.2 65 0.1
White 41,950 49.2 16,894 49.8 25,056 48.9
More than one race 2,324 2.7 1,023 3.0 1,301 2.5
Unknown ethnicity and race 3,629 4.3 1,749 5.2 1,880 3.7
Temporary visa holders 17,544 20.6 4,820 14.2 12,724 24.8
Part time 13,351 15.7 10,037 29.6 3,314 6.5
Full time 71,866 84.3 23,889 70.4 47,977 93.5
First time 21,506 25.2 12,394 36.5 9,112 17.8
Primary source of support for full-time studentsb
Federal 17,687 20.8 1,066 3.1 16,621 32.4
DOD 414 0.5 67 0.2 347 0.7
DOE 146 0.2 18 0.1 128 0.2
HHS 12,911 15.2 340 1.0 12,571 24.5
NIH 12,275 14.4 307 0.9 11,968 23.3
Other HHS 636 0.7 33 0.1 603 1.2
NASA 47 0.1 7 * 40 0.1
NSF 2,349 2.8 169 0.5 2,180 4.3
USDA 661 0.8 179 0.5 482 0.9
Other 1,159 1.4 286 0.8 873 1.7
Nonfederal 35,867 42.1 6,918 20.4 28,949 56.4
Institutional 32,029 37.6 6,319 18.6 25,710 50.1
Domestic 3,104 3.6 428 1.3 2,676 5.2
Foreign 734 0.9 171 0.5 563 1.1
Self-support 18,312 21.5 15,905 46.9 2,407 4.7
Primary mechanism of support for full-time studentsb
Fellowships 9,412 11.0 541 1.6 8,871 17.3
Research assistantships 22,095 25.9 2,276 6.7 19,819 38.6
Teaching assistantships 10,569 12.4 3,081 9.1 7,488 14.6
Traineeships 6,293 7.4 136 0.4 6,157 12.0
Other types of support 23,497 27.6 17,855 52.6 5,642 11.0
Self-support 18,312 21.5 15,905 46.9 2,407 4.7
Other 5,185 6.1 1,950 5.7 3,235 6.3
* = 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 up 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.