Maryland Higher Education Commission

March 2008 Press Release

 

 

 

Maryland Higher Education Commission

Releases 2008 Data Book

 

March 19 -- (ANNAPOLIS, MD)

 

 

The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) has released its 2008 Data Book.

This annual publication provides a wide range of statistical information about Maryland’s two-year and four-year public colleges and universities, independent colleges and universities and private career schools The Data Book includes figures about students, retention and graduation rates, degrees awarded, revenues and expenditures, tuition and fees, financial aid, and distance learning.

“The Data Book provides an invaluable resource to state policy makers, campus administrators and the general public with a statistical snapshot of postsecondary education in Maryland,” said Higher Education Secretary James E. Lyons, Sr.

Some examples of the information that appear in the 2008 Data Book:

• More than 56,000 degrees and certificates were awarded at Maryland’s colleges and universities in 2006-2007, an increase of more than 1,500 from the previous year.

• African Americans earned one in five of all bachelor’s degrees at Maryland campuses in 2006-2007.

• Nearly 240,000 students were enrolled in the almost 5,000 distance education courses offered in Maryland in 2006.

• More than 37,000 students attended Maryland’s 156 private career schools in 2005-2006.

• More than 8,600 community college students transferred to a public four-year institution in Maryland in 2006 – the highest on record. Maryland’s community colleges and public four-year institutions received more than $1 billion combined in State revenues in FY 2007 from the O’Malley-Brown administration.

• Through the O’Malley-Brown administration’s budget, MHEC provided nearly $110 million in financial aid to Maryland college and university students in FY 2007.

For more information listed in the 2008 Data Book online, log onto MHEC’s website at www.mhec.state.md.us and go to the “Publications” link.

The Maryland Higher Education Commission is a 12-member coordinating board responsible for establishing statewide policies for Maryland public and independent colleges and universities and private career schools. It serves as an advocate for almost 320,000 college students in Maryland, for the State and its needs, and for business and industry in Maryland.