One-fourth of the college students in the United States last fall were married, according to the results of the Current Population Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census in October 1956. Of the 2.9 million students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate colleges and professional schools, about 700,000, or 24 percent, were married and living with their spouse. Only 1 or 2 percent of the high school students were married. Comparable figures for earlier dates are not available.

Nearly all of the married college students had passed their teen ages. Thus, only 1 percent of the students 18 and 19 years old were married, as compared with 38 percent of the students 20 to 34 years old (table A). In the latter age group, 43 percent of the college men and 23 percent of the college women were married and living with their spouse. additional 4 percent of the college women were, or had been, married but were not living with their husbands (table 7).

An

Although these figures show a relatively large proportion married among the college students, the proportion married was far higher among persons of comparable ages who were not enrolled in college. According to estimates not shown in the accompanying tables, close to one-tenth of the young civilian men in their late teens (18 and 19 years old) and one-third of the young women in this age range were

years, the percent enrolled went up from 92.8 percent to 94.0 percent; at ages 14 to 17, it increased from 83.3 percent to 88.2 percent; and at ages 18 to 24, it rose from 14.6 percent

t.o

19.5 percent (table 1). These advances in enrollment rates represent continuations of generally upward trends during the past decade (table B).

The number of persons 5 to 34 years old enrolled in school increased 30 percent between 1950 and 1956, whereas the population 5 to 34 years old increased only 10 percent. The number in school 5 to 13 years old increased 33.0 percent between 1950 and 1956, whereas the population in this age group increased 31.3 percent. At ages 14 to 17, the number enrolled went up 21.0 percent, or half again as rapidly as the population (14.3 percent). At ages 18 to 34, the number students rose 30.3 percent even though the declined by 1.4

population in this age group million, or 3.8 percent.

of

children in October 1956 (tables C and 4). In 1954, the corresponding proportion was 40.7 percent. Increases in kindergarten enrollment rates have occurred in recent years among the various color and residence groups. Especially noteworthy is the increase in the kindergarten enrollment rate for 5-year-old nonwhites from 29.4 percent in 1954 to 38.4 percent in 1956 and the increase for urban areas from 54.0 percent to 59.3 percent in this 2-year period.

A growing proportion of the kindergarten pupils are going to public schools and a declining proportion are going to private schools (tables C and D). In the last five years, both the number and the proportion of kindergarten pupils in private schools has

At the elementary and high school levels, however, growing proportions of the pupils are attending private schools. This development covers the entire period during which the Bureau of the Census has collected separate data on public and private school enrollment, back to 1948. Thus, the proportion of elementary pupils in private schools has gone up from 10.1 percent in 1948 to 14.1 percent in 1956, and the proportion of high school pupils (grades 9 to 12) in private schools has gone up from 7.6 percent to 10.2 percent. Among college students, the proportion in private schools has fluctuated in recent years between roughly a third and a half.

The enrollment rate of high school age children has increased by one-tenth since 1940 and the proportion of high school age children enrolled in high school has increased by onethird since 1940 (table E). Between 1940 and 1956, the proportion of children 14 to 17 years old enrolled in school (at all levels) rose from 79.3 percent to 88.2 percent. During the same period, the proportion of children 14 to 17 years old enrolled in high school (grades 9 to 12) rose from 57.0 percent to 75.4 percent.

1 The figures for April 1940 relate to the ages of persons near the end of the school year, whereas those for October 1950 and 1956 relate to the ages of persons near the beginning of the school year.

In 1956, the enrollment rate of boys 14 to 17 years old was slightly above that of girls of the same age, whereas in 1940 the reverse was true. The increase during this 16year period in the enrollment rate of boys of high school age was greater for nonwhites than for whites.

Even though the proportion of nonwhite children of high school age who were attending high school showed a greater increase between 1940 and 1956 than did that of white children

of similar age, the proportion for nonwhite children in 1956 was still below that for white children in 1940.

SPECIAL SCHOOLS

Results of the October 1956 survey show that a total of 923,000 persons 5 to 34 years old were enrolled in "special" schools. Most of these schools provide instruction outside the regular school system in the field of

Additional statistics

No. 66 No. 45

on school enrollment for 1956 are presented in Series P-50, No. 71, "Employment of Students: October 1956." Statistics on school enrollment for October of years prior to 1956 have been published in the following reports in Series P-20: (1955), No. 54 (1954), No. 52 (1953), (1952), No. 40 (1951), No. 34 (1950), No. 30 (1949), No. 24 (1948), No. 19 (1947), and No. 1 (1946); and in Series P-S, No. 9 (1945). Enrollment data for April 1947 were published in Series P-20, No. 12. Data on educational attainment and illiteracy for persons 14 years old and over in October 1952 were published in Series P-20, No. 45.

Figures on school enrollment from the October Current Population Surveys differ from 1950 Census data for reasons in addition to the difference in the dates. In the first place, the survey data exclude the institutional population and members of the Armed Forces. These two groups were included in the 1950 Census. Second, there were differences in field work. The small group of Current Population Survey enumerators were more experienced and had more intensive training and supervision than the large number of temporary census enumerators and may have more often obtained more accurate answers from respondents. Third, the census was taken in April and relates to enrollment since February 1, whereas the surveys were taken in October and relate to enrollment in the current term. This difference in months of the year affects not only the extent of school enrollment (through "drop outs" during the school year, etc.) but also the level of school in which persons of a given age are enrolled.

Data from school systems.--Information on school enrollment and educational attainment is also collected and published by Federal, State, and local governmental agencies, and by independent research organizations. This information is obtained from reports of school systems and institutions of higher learning, and from other surveys and censuses. These data are only roughly comparable with data collected by the Bureau of the Census by household interviews, however, because of differences in definitions, subject matter covered, time references, and enumeration methods. To illustrate, for comparable grades, the enrollment figures of the Bureau of the Census tend to be lower than those in the Biennial Survey of Education conducted by the United States Office of Education, largely because the census data refer to shorter time periods and count a person only once, although he may have attended more than one school during the reporting period. In the biennial survey, sone persons are included in the enrollment figures more than once, such as those enrolled in both public and private schools and, generally,

Urban and rural residence.--The definition of urban and rural areas which was used in the October 1956 survey was the same as that used in the 1950 Census, but it differed substantially from that used in surveys and censuses before 1950. The territory classified as urban is the same as that in the 1950 Census. According to the definition that was adopted for use in the 1950 Census, the urban population comprises all persons living in (a) places of 2,500 inhabitants or more incorporated as cities, boroughs, and villages; (b) incorporated towns of 2,500 inhabitants or more, except in New England, New York, Wisconsin, where "towns" are simply minor civil divisions of counties; (c) the densely settled urban fringe, including both incorporated and unincorporated areas, around cities of 50,000 or more; and (d) unincorporated places of 2,500 inhabitants or more outside of any urban fringe. The remaining population is classified as rural.

and

Farm and nonfarm residence.--The rural population is subdivided into the rural-farm population, which comprises all rural residents living on farms, and the rural-nonfarm population, which comprises the remaining rural population. The method of determining farm and nonfarm residence in the October 1956 Current Population Survey is the same as that used in the 1950 Census but differs somewhat from that used in censuses and surveys before 1950. In the 1950 Census, as in the present survey, persons on "farms" who owned or were paying cash rent for their house and yard only were classified as nonfarm; furthermore, persons in institutions, summer camps, and tourist courts were classified as nonfarm.

School enrollment.--The school enrollment statistics from the current surveys are based on replies to the enumerator's inquiry as to whether the person had been enrolled at any time during the current term or school year in any type of day or night school, public, parochial, or other private school in the regular school system. Such schools include kindergartens, elementary schools, high schools, colleges, universities, and professional schools. Beginning with 1954, children enrolled in kindergarten are included in the enrollment figures for "regular" schools, and are also shown separately. Figures shown in this report on school enrollment for years prior to 1954 have been revised to include children in kindergarten.

not

trade

Persons attending "special" schools in the regular school system, such as schools or business colleges, are not included in the enrollment figures but are shown separately. Persons enrolled in classes which do not require physical presence in school, such as correspondence courses or other courses of independent study, and in training Courses given directly on the job, are neither reported as enrolled in school nor included in the "special" school category. Examples of "special" schools are schools of art, business, fashion design, photography, barbering, beauticians, radio, and refrigeration.