The second change to the GSS frame beginning with the 2014 data release will be the exclusion of graduate students in for-profit institutions. As with the prior analysis of new frame institutions, the impacts of this change on future GSS data are examined by using the 2013 GSS estimates, with a trend analysis that includes data from 1996 to 2013. The for-profit core institutions differ from the public and private nonprofit core institutions in terms of the types of graduate degree programs offered and student composition.

The 2011 GSS screening survey of new potentially eligible institutions identified 18 for-profit institutions. At the end of the 2013 survey cycle, 12 new for-profit institutions remained as eligible. In 2013, the GSS core institutions included two for-profit institutions—Walden University and Alliant International University. Walden University was added to the GSS in 1996 with three units (preventive medicine and community health; clinical psychology; psychology, except clinical) reporting 332 graduate students. Alliant International University was added in 2002, also with three psychology graduate degree programs (clinical psychology, organizational psychology, and forensic psychology) reporting 1,282 graduate students (figure 8). By 2013, Walden University enrolled 8,884 graduate students in eight degree programs and Alliant International University enrolled 735 graduate students in four degree programs; together these students represented 1.5% of all graduate students in the GSS (tables 7 and 8).

FIGURE 8. Graduate students in for-profit core institutions: 1996–2013
FIGURE 8. Graduate students in for-profit core institutions: 1996–2013.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS).

Figure 8 Source Data: Excel file

TABLE 7. Eligible units in private for-profit institutions: 2013

- = no value possible.

NOTE: Units ordered by number of graduate students in 2013.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS), 2013.

Table 7 Source Data: Excel file

Institution and unit name Number of
graduate students
Percent First year
reported
in GSS
All eligible units 9,619 100.0 -
Walden University 8,884 92.4 1,996
Psychology, general 3,521 36.6 2,007
Preventive medicine and community health 2,375 24.7 1,996
Public administration 1,980 20.6 2,008
Psychology, except clinical 450 4.7 1,996
Clinical psychology (excluding PsyD) 247 2.6 1,996
Computer science (excluding DCS) 214 2.2 2,005
Public policy analysis 77 0.8 2,011
Communication 20 0.2 2,013
Alliant International University 735 7.6 2,002
Clinical psychology 526 5.5 2,002
Organizational psychology 142 1.5 2,002
Forensic psychology 63 0.7 2,002
International relations 4 0.0 2,003
TABLE 8. Changes in the graduate student estimates due to excluding private for-profit institutions, by student characteristics, primary source of support, and field: 2013

- = no value possible.

a Percentage point (PP) change is the percent distribution of all institutions minus the percent distribution of core institutions. The PP change (rather than the percent change) describes the impact of adding the new frame institutions on the current distribution.
b Ethnicity and race data are available only for U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
c Financial support data are available only for full-time students.
d Field listing includes only those fields reported within private, for-profit institutions; fields ordered by major and detailed field count within the for-profit institutions. Detail fields may not sum to major field total for all institutions and nonprofit institutions columns.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 2013.

Table 8 Source Data: Excel file

Count Percent distribution
Characteristics For-profit
institutions
Nonprofit
institutions
All
institutions
Percent
change
  For-profit
institutions
Nonprofit
institutions
All
institutions
Percentage
point changea
All graduate students 9,619 623,391 633,010 -1.5   100.0 100.0 100.0 -
Full-time 5,637 463,316 468,953 -1.2   58.6 74.3 74.1 0.2
Part-time 3,982 160,075 164,057 -2.4   41.4 25.7 25.9 -0.2
Female 7,050 284,330 291,380 -2.4   73.3 45.6 46.0 -0.4
Male 2,569 339,061 341,630 -0.8   26.7 54.4 54.0 0.4
U.S. citizens and permanent residentsb 9,480 426,816 436,296 -2.2   98.6 68.5 68.9 -0.5
Hispanic or Latino 677 36,606 37,283 -1.8   7.1 8.6 8.5 0.0
Not Hispanic or Latino
American Indian or Alaska Native 80 2,437 2,517 -3.2   0.8 0.6 0.6 0.0
Asian 302 36,835 37,137 -0.8   3.2 8.6 8.5 0.1
Black or African American 3,813 33,384 37,197 -10.3   40.2 7.8 8.5 -0.7
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 22 1,015 1,037 -2.1   0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0
White 3,495 277,859 281,354 -1.2   36.9 65.1 64.5 0.6
More than one race 263 8,897 9,160 -2.9   2.8 2.1 2.1 0.0
Unknown race and ethnicity 828 29,783 30,611 -2.7   8.7 7.0 7.0 0.0
Temporary visa holders 139 196,575 196,714 -0.1   1.4 31.5 31.1 0.5
Primary source of supportc
Federal 145 76,695 76,840 -0.2   2.6 16.6 16.4 0.2
Institutional 35 189,405 189,440 0.0   0.6 40.9 40.4 0.5
Other nonfederal 24 25,861 25,885 -0.1   0.4 5.6 5.5 0.1
Self-support 5,433 171,355 176,788 -3.1   96.4 37.0 37.7 -0.7
Fieldd
Psychology 4,949 49,153 54,102 -9.1   51.5 7.9 8.5 -0.7
Psychology, combined 3,521 12,439 15,960 -22.1   36.6 2.0 2.5 -0.5
Clinical psychology 773 9,136 9,909 -7.8   8.0 1.5 1.6 -0.1
Psychology, except clinical 655 27,578 28,233 -2.3   6.8 4.4 4.5 0.0
Preventive medicine and community health 2,375 60,335 62,710 -3.8   24.7 9.7 9.9 -0.2
Social sciences 2,061 105,217 107,278 -1.9   21.4 16.9 16.9 -0.1
Public administration 1,980 20,519 22,499 -8.8   20.6 3.3 3.6 -0.3
Public policy analysis 77 6,753 6,830 -1.1   0.8 1.1 1.1 0.0
International relations and national security 4 3,898 3,902 -0.1   0.0 0.6 0.6 0.0
Computer sciences 214 56,125 56,339 -0.4   2.2 9.0 8.9 0.1
Communication 20 11,094 11,114 -0.2   0.2 1.8 1.8 0.0

The GSS has been working with institutions over the past decade to identify and exclude practitioner-oriented graduate programs. At the end of the 2013 data collection, the 47 units in the 12 newly identified for-profit institutions were evaluated because of continuing concerns about the eligibility of these units. The information provided by all for-profit institutions (including Walden University and Alliant International University), their program Web sites, and institutional mission statements were thoroughly reviewed. At the end of the review, it was determined that the primary mission and purpose of the 12 newly identified for-profit institutions and two extant for-profit institutions is to prepare students for professional careers. Thus, the graduate degrees offered are not research-oriented but rather practitioner-based programs, and are ineligible for the GSS.[11] For-profit institutions have also been excluded from the NCSES Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey frame because they have minimal research and development activities.[12]

Slightly more than 9% of all psychology students in the GSS were enrolled in for-profit institutions, and half (51.5%) of graduate students in for-profit institutions were enrolled in a psychology program. The impact of excluding for-profit institutions will lead to a 0.7% decrease in the proportion of graduate students in the psychology (table 8).

Though the overall impact on GSS trend data of removing the two for-profit institutions is minimal (figure 9), graduate student demographics, enrollment status, and funding characteristics differ across for-profit and nonprofit institutions. For-profit institutions enroll higher percentages of female, U.S. citizen and permanent resident, and black graduate students than the core institutions (table 8). In 2013, almost three-fourths (73.3%) of the graduate students enrolled at for-profit institutions were women, compared to 45.6% of students in nonprofit institutions. Overall, removing the two for-profit institutions will lead to a 2.4% decline in the number of female graduate students and 0.4% decrease in the proportion of women in the GSS. Almost all (98.6%) of graduate students attending for-profit institutions were U.S. citizens or permanent residents, compared to 68.5% of graduate students in nonprofit institutions. While 10.3% of black or African American graduate students in the 2013 GSS attended for-profit institutions, 40.2% of graduate students enrolled in for-profit institutions were black or African American.

FIGURE 9. Graduate students in science, engineering, and health including and excluding students in for-profit institutions: 1996–2013
FIGURE 9. Graduate students in science, engineering, and health including and excluding students in for-profit institutions: 1996–2013.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.

Figure 9 Source Data: Excel file

Larger percentages of graduate students in for-profit institutions enrolled part time and were self-funded. In the 2013 GSS, 41.4% of graduate students at for-profit institutions attended part time, compared to 25.7% of students attending nonprofit institutions (table 8). Among full-time graduate students enrolled at for-profit institutions, 96.4% were primarily on self-support to pay for their graduate education. In contrast, only 37.0% of full-time graduate students enrolled in nonprofit institutions were on self-support.

Note

[11] See the "Mission" statements at http://www.waldenu.edu/about/who-we-are/ and http://www.alliant.edu/about-alliant/mission/.

[12] See the HERD Survey Design target population at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvyherd/#sd/.