Question:
How many students in postsecondary education have a disability?
Response:
Eleven percent of undergraduates in both 2003� and 2007� reported having a disability. In 2007�, the percentages of undergraduates who were male (43 percent) and female (57 percent) were the same for undergraduates reporting disabilities as for those not reporting disabilities. There were some differences in characteristics such as race/ethnicity, age, dependency status, and veteran status between undergraduates reporting disabilities and those without disabilities in 2007�. For example, White students made up a larger percentage of undergraduates reporting disabilities than of undergraduates without disabilities (66 percent vs. 62 percent). Undergraduates under age 24 made up a smaller percentage of those reporting disabilities than of those not reporting disabilities (54 percent vs. 60 percent). A smaller percentage of undergraduates who reported disabilities than of those without disabilities were dependents (47 percent vs. 53 percent). About 4 percent of undergraduates who reported disabilities were veterans, compared with 3 percent of those who did not report disabilities.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2012). Digest of Education Statistics, 2011 (2012-001), Chapter 3 .
| Percentage distribution of undergraduate students enrolled in postsecondary institutions, by disability status and selected student characteristics: 2003-04 and 2007-08 | ||||
| Selected student characteristic | Students with disabilities1 | Students not reporting disabilities | ||
| 2003-04 | 2007-08 | 2003-04 | 2007-08 | |
| Percentage of students with disabilities | 11.3 | 10.8 | �/td> | �/td> |
| Sex (percentage distribution) | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Male | 42.0 | 42.7 | 42.5 | 43.1 |
| Female | 58.0 | 57.3 | 57.5 | 56.9 |
| Race/ethnicity of student (percentage distribution) | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| White | 65.0 | 66.3 | 62.6 | 61.2 |
| Black | 13.2 | 12.7 | 14.1 | 14.1 |
| Hispanic | 12.3 | 12.3 | 13.0 | 14.4 |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 3.9 | 4.8 | 6.2 | 6.8 |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Other | 4.5 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 2.6 |
| Age (percentage distribution) | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| 15 to 23 | 46.8 | 54.0 | 59.1 | 60.4 |
| 24 to 29 | 15.2 | 20.1 | 17.1 | 17.0 |
| 30 or older | 38.0 | 25.9 | 23.8 | 22.7 |
| Dependency status (percentage distribution) | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Dependent | 40.4 | 46.8 | 51.8 | 53.7 |
| Independent, unmarried | 19.0 | 19.5 | 14.2 | 14.7 |
| Independent, married | 9.0 | 6.9 | 7.5 | 6.3 |
| Independent with dependents | 31.6 | 26.7 | 26.4 | 25.2 |
| Veteran status (percentage distribution) | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | Veteran | 6.0 | 4.4 | 2.9 | 3.0 |
| Not veteran | 94.0 | 95.6 | 97.1 | 97.0 |
� Not applicable.
1 Students with disabilities are those who reported that they had one or more of the following conditions: a specific learning disability, a visual handicap, hard of hearing, deafness, a speech disability, an orthopedic handicap, or a health impairment.
NOTE: Data are based on a sample survey of students who enrolled at any time during the school year. Data include Puerto Rico. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of survey item nonresponse and rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2012). Digest of Education Statistics, 2012 (NCES 2012-001), Table 242 .
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