More than half of RISD students are minorities, RIC most female among R.I. schools

RHODE ISLAND'S COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES have varying degrees of diversity among their student bodies, according to U.S. Department of Education statistics published by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Click <a href="http://pbn.static3.adqic.com/uploads/original/1474296689_51df.jpg">HERE</a> for a larger version of this graphic. / COURTESY CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
RHODE ISLAND'S COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES have varying degrees of diversity among their student bodies, according to U.S. Department of Education statistics published by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Click <a href="http://pbn.static3.adqic.com/uploads/original/1474296689_51df.jpg">HERE</a> for a larger version of this graphic. / COURTESY CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

PROVIDENCE – The latest figures for diversity produced by the U.S. Department of Education reveal that 55 percent of the student body at the Rhode Island School of Design come from minority groups, the highest amount of any Rhode Island-based higher educational institution. Brown University reported 44.6 percent of its students are counted as minorities. The rest of the Ocean State’s colleges and universities had a wide range of minority students, with Salve Regina University having the smallest percentage, at 11.6 percent, followed by Roger Williams University, 14.5 percent, and Providence College, 14.6 percent.
Conversely, the school categorized as the most “white” is PC, at 77.4 percent, followed by Salve Regina, 75.9 percent, Bryant University, 72.7 percent and the RWU School of Law, 72.2 percent. The least white schools were RISD, at 31.8 percent, and Brown, at 42.3 percent.
The school with the highest percentage of female students is Rhode Island College, where 69 percent of its attendees are women. Other schools that are more than 60 percent female are: Salve Regina, 68.3 percent; RISD, 66.4 percent; and Johnson & Wales University-online, 64.4 percent. Three schools had a student body that was less than half female: New England Institute of Technology, 32.2 percent; Bryant, 41.5 percent; and RWU School of Law, 48.6 percent.
The distribution of ethnic and racial minority groups was uneven across the institutions. For example, Asian students showed up in significant numbers only in two schools: RISD, 15.8 percent; and Brown, 12 percent. Hispanics passed the 10 percent mark at four institutions: Community College of Rhode Island, 19.2 percent; Rhode Island College, 13.3 percent; RWU School of Law, 13 percent; and JWU, 10 percent. Only JWU’s online program passed 10 percent of its student body being black, at 19.7 percent, while JWU’s other programs counted 9.7 percent of students being black and CCRI tallying 9.5 percent.
The data comes from the department’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, and includes undergraduate, graduate and professional students attending school full and part time in the 50 states and the District of Columbia in the fall of 2014 and was published by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The ethnic and racial groups counted as minorities include: American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; black or African-American; Hispanic or Latino; Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander; two or more races; and race/ethnicity unknown. Students categorized in those groupings can be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. There is a separate category for nonresident foreigners, and while a person can only be counted in one category, Hispanics can be of any race. The total minority percentage counts all students who are not categorized as white, race unknown or nonresident.
Major categories for Rhode Island colleges and universities are listed here:

    Institution: Enrollment; % women; Total minority

  • Community College of Rhode Island: 17,553; 59.1%; 31.9%
  • University of Rhode Island: 16,571; 54.8%; 19.2%
  • Johnson & Wales University: 9,955; 59.5%; 34.5%
  • Brown University: 9,181; 51%; 44.6%
  • Rhode Island College: 8,641; 69%; 23.9%
  • Roger Williams University: 4,884; 50.6%; 14.5%
  • Providence College: 4,533; 55.9%; 14.6%
  • Bryant University: 3,462; 41.5%; 22.7%
  • New England Institute of Technology: 2,922; 32.2%; 19.7%
  • Salve Regina University: 2,739; 68.3%; 11.6%
  • Rhode Island School of Design: 2,449; 66.4%; 55%
  • RWU School of Law: 370; 48.6%; 19.5%
  • JWU-Online: 239; 64.4%; 33.1%

The most diverse school in Bristol County, Mass., is the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, with a total minority percentage of 27.4 percent. The school with the highest percentage of women is Wheaton College, at 64.3 percent.

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