U.S. Department of Education: Promoting Educational Excellence for all Americans

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
LISTS OF POSTSECONDARY INSTITUTIONS ENROLLING POPULATIONS
WITH SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGES OF UNDERGRADUATE
MINORITY STUDENTS

MINORITY INSTITUTIONS (MIs):  The term “minority institutions” (MIs) is defined by § 365(3) of the Higher Education Act (HEA) (20 U.S.C. § 1067k(3)). This definition of “minority institutions” applies only to the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP) and other programs whose statutes or regulations reference the same MI definition.

ORIGINS AND NATURE OF LIST OF MIs: This list of MIs linked below relies on Fall 2006 enrollment data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). NCES has determined that each of the colleges and universities on this list reported an enrollment of a single minority group, as the term “minority” is defined under § 365(2) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. § 1067k(2)) [1], or combination of those minority groups, that exceeded 50 percent of its total enrollment.  Please note that this list of MIs excludes institutions that did not report Fall 2006 enrollment data for the IPEDS (or did not do so on a timely basis).

Federal agencies and others interested in institutions enrolling significant numbers of minority students may find this list of MIs a helpful starting point. However, this list is only one source of information to assist you in determining the eligibility of an institution for a particular federal grant, contract, or benefit program.

Even though an institution is not included on the list of MIs, it may still be an MI for purposes of the MSEIP or other programs whose statutes or regulations reference the same MI definition. As noted above, the list is based on 2006 data (and excludes those institutions that did not report that data on a timely basis). In addition, the data that was collected was not as refined as required to make a complete list. In particular, the statutory definition of a “minority” under § 365(2) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. § 1067k(2) includes Pacific Islanders,[2] but the IPEDS enrollment data used to develop the list did not disaggregate enrollment of Pacific Islanders.  Therefore, a Pacific-Islander Serving School may qualify as an MI for the MSEIP and other programs whose statutes or regulations reference the same MI definition, even though it is not included on the list of MIs.

Therefore, it is important that federal agencies and others with an interest in colleges or universities not appearing on this list should obtain or confirm information regarding their minority student populations, and/or their eligibility for a specific grant, contract, or benefit program, directly with those institutions. Additionally, because the list has not been updated since 2006, federal agencies and others with an interest in colleges or universities that do appear on the list should verify the status of the schools because some of the listed schools may have closed or no longer meet eligibility requirements for MI definition under Title III or Title V of the HEA.

LINK TO MIs LIST: Minority Institutions (based on the definition in § 365(3) of the HEA for the MSEIP and other programs whose statutes or regulations reference the same MI definition).

For general questions, please contact OCR toll free at (888) 863-6515.

Return To Overview/ Investment in historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions (under HEA part F)

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Note 1 The definition of minority in § 365(2) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. § 1067k(2)) defines Hispanic as “including persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Central or South American origin.”

Note 2 The federal government’s Office of Management and Budget has defined the term “Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander” to include Native Hawaiians, Guamanians, Samoans, and persons from the following groups reported in the 1990 census: Carolinian, Fijian, Kosraean, Melanesian, Micronesian, Northern Mariana Islander, Palauan, Papua New Guinean, Ponapean (Pohnpelan), Polynesian, Solomon Islander, Tahitian, Tarawa Islander, Tokelauan, Tongan, Trukese (Chuukese), and Yapese. This definition is found in the preamble to the "Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity," 62 Fed. Reg. 58782, 58786, 58789 (October 30, 1997).