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Table 4-16a. Engineering master's and doctoral student demographics, enrollment status, and funding: 2018

Characteristic All graduate students Master's students Doctoral students
Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Institutions 328 45.9 320 44.8 227 31.7
Schools 340 41.6 328 40.1 235 28.8
Units 2,246 11.5 2,016 10.3 1,338 6.8
All graduate students 163,301 100.0 93,064 100.0 70,237 100.0
Male 121,935 74.7 70,039 75.3 51,896 73.9
Female 41,366 25.3 23,025 24.7 18,341 26.1
U.S. citizens and permanent residentsa 76,770 47.0 47,813 51.4 28,957 41.2
Hispanic or Latino 7,939 4.9 5,436 5.8 2,503 3.6
Not Hispanic or Latino
American Indian or Alaska Native 211 0.1 140 0.2 71 0.1
Asian 10,863 6.7 6,758 7.3 4,105 5.8
Black or African American 4,035 2.5 2,618 2.8 1,417 2.0
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 75 * 45 * 30 *
White 47,447 29.1 28,993 31.2 18,454 26.3
More than one race 2,460 1.5 1,519 1.6 941 1.3
Unknown ethnicity and race 3,740 2.3 2,304 2.5 1,436 2.0
Temporary visa holders 86,531 53.0 45,251 48.6 41,280 58.8
Part time 42,780 26.2 33,836 36.4 8,944 12.7
Full time 120,521 73.8 59,228 63.6 61,293 87.3
First time 38,565 23.6 27,764 29.8 10,801 15.4
Primary source of support for full-time studentsb
Federal 21,961 13.4 3,591 3.9 18,370 26.2
DOD 4,346 2.7 1,255 1.3 3,091 4.4
DOE 2,191 1.3 302 0.3 1,889 2.7
HHS 3,271 2.0 240 0.3 3,031 4.3
NIH 2,615 1.6 135 0.1 2,480 3.5
Other HHS 656 0.4 105 0.1 551 0.8
NASA 703 0.4 157 0.2 546 0.8
NSF 8,159 5.0 832 0.9 7,327 10.4
USDA 325 0.2 90 0.1 235 0.3
Other 2,966 1.8 715 0.8 2,251 3.2
Nonfederal 53,424 32.7 15,758 16.9 37,666 53.6
Institutional 44,127 27.0 13,544 14.6 30,583 43.5
Domestic 7,294 4.5 1,672 1.8 5,622 8.0
Foreign 2,003 1.2 542 0.6 1,461 2.1
Self-support 45,136 27.6 39,879 42.9 5,257 7.5
Primary mechanism of support for full-time studentsb
Fellowships 9,971 6.1 1,752 1.9 8,219 11.7
Research assistantships 38,457 23.5 6,404 6.9 32,053 45.6
Teaching assistantships 15,259 9.3 4,858 5.2 10,401 14.8
Traineeships 1,557 1.0 536 0.6 1,021 1.5
Other types of support 55,277 33.8 45,678 49.1 9,599 13.7
Self-support 45,136 27.6 39,879 42.9 5,257 7.5
Other 10,141 6.2 5,799 6.2 4,342 6.2
* = 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 Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 2018.