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Table 4-7a. Biological and biomedical sciences 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 513 71.7 488 68.3 290 40.6
Schools 577 70.6 543 66.5 342 41.9
Units 2,614 13.3 1,545 7.9 1,839 9.4
All graduate students 87,933 100.0 35,306 100.0 52,627 100.0
Male 37,163 42.3 13,244 37.5 23,919 45.5
Female 50,770 57.7 22,062 62.5 28,708 54.5
U.S. citizens and permanent residentsa 69,988 79.6 30,550 86.5 39,438 74.9
Hispanic or Latino 7,577 8.6 3,454 9.8 4,123 7.8
Not Hispanic or Latino
American Indian or Alaska Native 260 0.3 103 0.3 157 0.3
Asian 8,108 9.2 3,611 10.2 4,497 8.5
Black or African American 4,923 5.6 2,827 8.0 2,096 4.0
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 167 0.2 98 0.3 69 0.1
White 42,825 48.7 17,358 49.2 25,467 48.4
More than one race 2,450 2.8 1,093 3.1 1,357 2.6
Unknown ethnicity and race 3,678 4.2 2,006 5.7 1,672 3.2
Temporary visa holders 17,945 20.4 4,756 13.5 13,189 25.1
Part time 13,920 15.8 10,547 29.9 3,373 6.4
Full time 74,013 84.2 24,759 70.1 49,254 93.6
First time 22,171 25.2 12,965 36.7 9,206 17.5
Primary source of support for full-time studentsb
Federal 18,269 20.8 1,274 3.6 16,995 32.3
DOD 331 0.4 53 0.2 278 0.5
DOE 144 0.2 8 * 136 0.3
HHS 13,436 15.3 429 1.2 13,007 24.7
NIH 12,527 14.2 367 1.0 12,160 23.1
Other HHS 909 1.0 62 0.2 847 1.6
NASA 61 0.1 4 * 57 0.1
NSF 2,507 2.9 221 0.6 2,286 4.3
USDA 663 0.8 209 0.6 454 0.9
Other 1,127 1.3 350 1.0 777 1.5
Nonfederal 36,562 41.6 6,560 18.6 30,002 57.0
Institutional 32,644 37.1 6,039 17.1 26,605 50.6
Domestic 3,355 3.8 396 1.1 2,959 5.6
Foreign 563 0.6 125 0.4 438 0.8
Self-support 19,182 21.8 16,925 47.9 2,257 4.3
Primary mechanism of support for full-time studentsb
Fellowships 9,572 10.9 516 1.5 9,056 17.2
Research assistantships 23,131 26.3 2,310 6.5 20,821 39.6
Teaching assistantships 10,440 11.9 2,876 8.1 7,564 14.4
Traineeships 6,248 7.1 175 0.5 6,073 11.5
Other types of support 24,622 28.0 18,882 53.5 5,740 10.9
Self-support 19,182 21.8 16,925 47.9 2,257 4.3
Other 5,440 6.2 1,957 5.5 3,483 6.6
* = 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 Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 2018.