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Top 50 Graduate Schools For Hispanics/Latinos

Jan 29, 2024

Hispanic Outlook’s Top 50 Institutions for 2021-22

However, Hispanics/Latinos are still under-represented in graduate education overall; it is thus important to get an accurate picture of their presence at this level by carefully mapping out their numbers at specific institutions.

The top 50 institutions identified in each of the lists on these pages are recognized for enrolling and graduating the highest numbers of Hispanic/Latino students, according to H.O.’s analysis of 2021-22 data from the NCES Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). This is the most recent data made available by IPEDS in September 2023.

For the 2021-22 academic year, our three lists include:

• Top 50 schools with the highest number of Hispanic/Latino graduate enrollments, which includes doctoral and master’s programs, full and part time enrollments, enrollments by degree- and certificate-seeking students, and enrollments in graduate courses by non-degree/certificate-seeking students

• Top 50 schooals with the highest number of graduate degrees granted to Hispanic/Latino students, which includes master’s degrees and all categories of PhD degrees

• Top 50 schools with the highest number of PhD degrees granted to Hispanic/Latino students - including PhDs for research/scholarship, for professional practice, and for other purposes

Each of these lists provides some key insights into overall trends in Hispanic/Latino graduate studies, as well as specific information on each institution.

Hispanic/Latino graduate enrollments

In the 2021-22 academic year, these top 50 schools enrolled 146,373 Hispanic/Latino students in all graduate programs, 6,062 more than in the 2020-21 academic year. Each one of the institutions listed enrolled more than 1,700 Hispanic/Latino graduate students; the top four - Grand Canyon University, Florida International University, Western Governors University and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley - enrolled more than 5,500 each.

At 48 of these 50 institutions, more Hispanic/Latino women were enrolled in graduate programs than Hispanic/Latino men, following a well-recognized pattern over the past years. Indeed, more than two-thirds of all Hispanic/Latino graduate students enrolled at these top 50 institutions were women (99,056), while less than one-third were men (47,317).

The majority of the top 50 schools listed here are public; however, it is notable that among the top ten, eight are private.

At slightly more than two-thirds of these top 50 institutions (34 of them), Hispanic/Latino graduate students constituted less than one-quarter of the total graduate student body. Only four schools had a large proportion of Hispanic/Latino students among their graduate student body (more than half): The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (77%), the University of Texas at El Paso (65%), Ana G. Mendez University in Florida (59%), and California State University Los Angeles (53%). Another eight institutions had Hispanic/Latino students comprising more than a third of their graduate student body.

Graduate degrees granted to Hispanic/Latino students

The top 50 institutions on this list conferred 39,412 graduate degrees to Hispanic/Latino students in the 2021-22 academic year, 3,252 more than in 2020-21. Regarding graduate degrees for Hispanic/Latino students, Grand Canyon University conferred the highest number (2,516), followed by Florida International University (2,277), the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (1802), and the University of Southern California (1,688).

Given that a greater number of Hispanic/Latino women were enrolled in graduate programs than Hispanic/Latino men, it follows that a higher number of graduate degrees would be granted to Hispanic/Latino women. Indeed, more graduate degrees were granted to Hispanic/Latino women than to men at every single institution on this list, and by a notable difference in many cases. As with graduate enrollment, two-thirds (67%) of all graduate degrees for Hispanics/Latinos were conferred to women. Hispanic/Latino women received a total of 26,586 graduate degrees at these top 50 institutions, while men received a total of only 12,826.

Miami Regional University stands out for conferring the largest proportion of graduate degrees to Hispanic/Latino students (89%), followed by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (80%) and the University of Texas at El Paso (66%). Eight more institutions conferred more than one-third of their degrees to Hispanic/Latino students. However, as with graduate enrollments, slightly more than two-thirds of these top 50 schools (34 of them) granted less than one-quarter of all graduate degrees to Hispanic/Latino students.

PhD degrees granted to Hispanic/Latino students

The number of PhD degrees granted to Hispanic/Latino students remains low overall, with each institution on this list granting between 70 and 260; only Nova Southeastern University granted more than 500. This number has increased very minimally, with 6,357 PhD degrees granted to Hispanic/Latino students at all 50 institutions in 2021-22, while 6,086 were granted in 2020-21.

With regard to gender, the imbalance between Hispanic/Latino women and men persists at the PhD level; more women receive PhD degrees than men do at 43 of these 50 schools. However, the gap is not as wide as it is with graduate enrollment, or with graduate degrees overall: the total number of PhD degrees conferred to Hispanic/Latina women at all 50 institutions was 3,749, while men were awarded a total of 2,608. Thus, the distribution of PhD degrees among Hispanic/Latino men and women is more even, with 59% awarded to women and 41% to men.

The schools on this list that conferred the largest proportion of doctoral degrees to Hispanic/Latino students, out of all the doctoral degrees they awarded, were St. Thomas University in Florida (63%), the University of Texas at El Paso (54%), and St. Mary’s University in Texas (49%). The majority of these 50 institutions (40 of them, or 80%) awarded less than one-quarter of their total PhD degrees to Hispanic/Latino students.

	Graduate Enrollment 2021-2022
	Institution	State	Total Enrollment Hispanic/Latino Students	Total Enrollment All Students	Hispanic/Latino men	Hispanic/Latino women	Percent Hispanic/Latino
1	Grand Canyon University	AZ	9650	58321	2208	7442	17%
2	Florida International University	FL	6415	13208	2351	4064	49%
3	Western Governors University	UT	5981	63961	2001	3980	9%
4	The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	TX	5558	7182	1849	3709	77%
5	National University	CA	5383	15540	1461	3922	35%
6	Nova Southeastern University	FL	5073	16663	1392	3681	30%
7	Walden University	MN	4703	60748	923	3780	8%
8	University of Southern California	CA	4675	31467	1635	3040	15%
9	Capella University	MN	4433	42583	773	3660	10%
10	Liberty University	VA	3990	66053	1570	2420	6%
11	University of Florida	FL	3696	24387	1461	2235	15%
12	Arizona State University Digital Immersion	AZ	3634	22300	1025	2609	16%
13	Southern New Hampshire University	NH	3535	38050	1047	2488	9%
14	The University of Texas at El Paso	TX	3303	5052	1320	1983	65%
15	The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	2952	17037	661	2291	17%
16	California State University-Long Beach	CA	2872	7181	942	1930	40%
17	New York University	NY	2723	32533	890	1833	8%
18	The University of Texas at San Antonio	TX	2634	5657	1014	1620	47%
19	Lamar University	TX	2542	12086	594	1948	21%
20	University of Phoenix-Arizona	AZ	2488	30973	634	1854	8%
21	University of Central Florida	FL	2481	12503	930	1551	20%
22	Texas A & M University-College Station	TX	2382	17669	1036	1346	13%
23	California State University-Los Angeles	CA	2346	4425	806	1540	53%
24	Johns Hopkins University	MD	2311	31398	1102	1209	7%
25	Chamberlain University-Illinois	IL	2259	21033	270	1989	11%
26	University of Arizona	AZ	2244	12098	913	1331	19%
27	University of Miami	FL	2222	8132	853	1369	27%
28	University of New Mexico-Main Campus	NM	2219	6912	896	1323	32%
29	California State University-Northridge	CA	2201	6485	657	1544	34%
30	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	2119	14556	874	1245	15%
31	American Public University System	WV	2118	17199	1300	818	12%
32	Harvard University	MA	2094	26134	952	1142	8%
33	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	2063	16280	586	1477	13%
34	San Jose State University	CA	2059	10399	636	1423	20%
35	University of South Florida	FL	2002	14109	649	1353	14%
36	Florida State University	FL	1998	13868	682	1316	14%
37	California State University-Fullerton	CA	1976	5796	645	1331	34%
38	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	GA	1875	33162	1472	403	6%
39	Ana G. Mendez University	FL	1855	3169	515	1340	59%
40	California Baptist University	CA	1836	4474	436	1400	41%
41	San Diego State University	CA	1819	5777	562	1257	31%
42	University of Illinois Chicago	IL	1765	13267	608	1157	13%
43	Azusa Pacific University	CA	1762	5086	434	1328	35%
44	CUNY Hunter College	NY	1757	7430	359	1398	24%
45	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	1739	25503	836	903	7%
46	University of Houston	TX	1735	9765	648	1087	18%
47	Texas Woman's University	TX	1732	8028	165	1567	22%
48	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	1726	27728	636	1090	6%
49	Pepperdine University	CA	1722	8594	431	1291	20%
50	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	1716	15023	677	1039	11%

	All Graduate Degrees 2020-2021
	Institution	State	Total Degrees Granted Hispanic/Latino Students	Total Degrees Granted All Students	Hispanic/Latino men	Hispanic/Latino women	Percent Hispanic/Latino
1	Grand Canyon University	AZ	2516	14779	612	1904	17%
2	Florida International University	FL	2277	4436	832	1445	51%
3	The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	TX	1802	2255	589	1213	80%
4	University of Southern California	CA	1688	11214	571	1117	15%
5	Western Governors University	UT	1522	19615	532	990	8%
6	Nova Southeastern University	FL	1380	4466	372	1008	31%
7	National University	CA	1375	4224	342	1033	33%
8	Arizona State University Digital Immersion	AZ	1042	6006	278	764	17%
9	University of Florida	FL	1013	6423	445	568	16%
10	New York University	NY	954	11009	323	631	9%
11	The University of Texas at El Paso	TX	906	1376	376	530	66%
12	The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	903	4997	178	725	18%
13	Capella University	MN	786	7921	135	651	10%
14	University of Miami	FL	781	2752	307	474	28%
15	California State University-Long Beach	CA	734	1824	218	516	40%
16	Texas A & M University-College Station	TX	697	5040	299	398	14%
17	Lamar University	TX	682	3364	173	509	20%
18	Walden University	MN	678	10763	130	548	6%
19	University of Arizona	AZ	664	3351	271	393	20%
20	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	660	4592	234	426	14%
21	University of Central Florida	FL	648	3486	239	409	19%
22	The University of Texas at San Antonio	TX	645	1480	240	405	44%
23	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	644	4993	247	397	13%
24	University of Phoenix-Arizona	AZ	637	5716	172	465	11%
25	California State University-Los Angeles	CA	633	1229	217	416	52%
26	San Jose State University	CA	632	2986	172	460	21%
27	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	622	10797	212	410	6%
28	Liberty University	VA	618	12198	235	383	5%
29	Southern New Hampshire University	NH	597	6812	181	416	9%
30	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	597	4225	268	329	14%
31	University of South Florida	FL	581	3952	191	390	15%
32	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	566	4508	158	408	13%
33	Johns Hopkins University	MD	564	8382	239	325	7%
34	California Baptist University	CA	558	1416	135	423	39%
35	University of New Mexico-Main Campus	NM	552	1642	229	323	34%
36	Harvard University	MA	550	7387	242	308	7%
37	Florida State University	FL	522	3846	202	320	14%
38	California State University-Fullerton	CA	521	1647	171	350	32%
39	Miami Regional University	FL	508	568	186	322	89%
40	University of La Verne	CA	505	1095	148	357	46%
41	California State University-Northridge	CA	497	1585	153	344	31%
42	San Diego State University	CA	496	1743	144	352	28%
43	University of Houston	TX	490	2712	174	316	18%
44	Fordham University	NY	485	2923	115	370	17%
45	CUNY Hunter College	NY	454	1913	103	351	24%
46	Pepperdine University	CA	453	2364	124	329	19%
47	Texas Tech University	TX	451	2439	196	255	18%
48	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	446	6789	199	247	7%
49	University of North Texas	TX	441	3017	167	274	15%
50	George Washington University	DC	439	5210	150	289	8%

	PhD Degrees 2020-2021
	Institution	State	Total PhD Granted Hispanic/Latino Students	Total PhD Granted All Students	Hispanic/Latino men	Hispanic/Latino women	Percent Hispanic/Latino
1	Nova Southeastern University	FL	560	1637	163	397	34%
2	University of Florida	FL	257	1906	99	158	13%
3	Florida International University	FL	256	685	103	153	37%
4	University of Miami	FL	250	900	103	147	28%
5	University of Southern California	CA	229	1923	95	134	12%
6	University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences	CA	197	1186	86	111	17%
7	Texas A & M University-College Station	TX	180	1462	80	100	12%
8	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	155	1463	73	82	11%
9	St. Thomas University	FL	147	233	61	86	63%
10	University of New Mexico-Main Campus	NM	142	502	61	81	28%
11	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	138	1403	45	93	10%
12	University of Arizona	AZ	137	993	59	78	14%
13	New York University	NY	136	1543	53	83	9%
14	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	134	1260	58	76	11%
15	University of Illinois Chicago	IL	130	1469	50	80	9%
16	University of the Incarnate Word	TX	128	360	48	80	36%
17	Harvard University	MA	121	1596	59	62	8%
18	University of California-Davis	CA	121	1103	47	74	11%
19	The University of Texas at El Paso	TX	117	218	56	61	54%
20	University of California-Berkeley	CA	115	1259	64	51	9%
21	The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio	TX	113	455	45	68	25%
22	St. Mary's University	TX	110	226	37	73	49%
23	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	109	1788	41	68	6%
24	University of Pennsylvania	PA	108	1362	45	63	8%
25	Stanford University	CA	107	1115	62	45	10%
26	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	106	1425	38	68	7%
27	Capella University	MN	100	1261	26	74	8%
28	University of California-Irvine	CA	100	763	44	56	13%
29	Boston University	MA	99	1151	42	57	9%
30	Loma Linda University	CA	99	560	39	60	18%
31	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	98	865	35	63	11%
32	Life University	GA	96	443	50	46	22%
33	Florida State University	FL	91	778	33	58	12%
34	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	91	1360	39	52	7%
35	Western University of Health Sciences	CA	86	813	27	59	11%
36	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	85	1630	45	40	5%
37	Midwestern University-Glendale	AZ	84	842	32	52	10%
38	South Texas College of Law Houston	TX	84	297	36	48	28%
39	University of Houston	TX	84	838	31	53	10%
40	Barry University	FL	83	342	35	48	24%
41	Loyola Marymount University	CA	81	354	32	49	23%
42	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus	CO	81	777	42	39	10%
43	Northwestern University	IL	80	1088	41	39	7%
44	University of South Florida	FL	79	770	36	43	10%
45	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	77	1766	36	41	4%
46	University of California-San Francisco	CA	76	587	35	41	13%
47	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	76	1476	30	46	5%
48	Yale University	CT	76	760	31	45	10%
49	Palmer College of Chiropractic	IA	74	632	44	30	12%
50	University of California-San Diego	CA	74	742	36	38	10%