Ethnicity for all dashboards on this site is reported following The Institute of Education Science’s standard as defined by National Center for Education Statistics standard NCES Standard 1-5-3. This standard is currently the standard implemented by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB).
Ethnicity is determined based on the information reported by institutions utilizing a two part question on ethnicity and race.
The first question identifies the student’s ethnicity by indicating one of the following:
- Hispanic
- Not Hispanic or Latino origin
- Not Answered
The second question identifies the student’s race (multiple can be marked):
- White
- Black or African American
- Asian
- American Indian or Alaskan
- International ( NCES uses “Nonresident alien”, TAMUS will report as “International”)
- Unknown Not Reported
- Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
Based on the reported responses the student’s ethnicity is identified on this site by following this criteria:
- If the student response to the second question is International, then ethnicity is reported as International. ( i.e. regardless of ethnic origin, if an individual answers yes to international – the student will be identified as an international).
- If the student response to the first question is Hispanic or Latino origin then ethnicity is reported as Hispanic. (Note – doing this give preference to an ethnicity of Hispanic over Two or More Races).
- If more than one race is indicated then ethnicity is reported as “Two Or More Races”.
- In all other cases the ethnicity is reported as the response to the second question.