School Ratings

Ethnic Category	Undergrad Percent	Undergrad Total	Grad Percent	Grad Total	Faculty Percent	Faculty Total
American Indian or Alaska Native	0%	37	0%	38	0%	9
Asian	23%	4,771	17%	4,435	17%	350
Black or African American	7%	1,447	5%	1,375	5%	108
Hispanic or Latino	20%	4,086	15%	3,862	7%	142
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0%	44	0%	40	0%	0
Nonresident	14%	2,817	37%	9,557	4%	87
Two or More	6%	1,301	3%	676	3%	57
Unknown	4%	903	4%	997	4%	92
White or Caucasian	25%	5,224	19%	4,962	59%	1,203

Smallest Ethnic Group

The smallest ethnic group in all categories are Native Americans making up 0% in all categories. There is a total of 37 Native American undergraduate students, 38 graduate, and 9 faculty members. Though slightly higher, the Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population is nearly identical and also at 0%.

Analysis: This is close to the national average with Native American Students 0.7% of all post-secondary enrollment. Despite these low numbers, Native American Enrollment in college(28%) is not far from the national average of 38%. This can largely be attributed to the total population of Native Americans in America which is only 1%. This is largely the same case for the Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population.

From this data, we can see that the extremely low representation of Native American and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander groups is not unique to this university but reflects broader national trends tied to their small overall population size. However, even though percentages appear negligible, the absolute numbers of students and faculty matter for campus climate—low representation can translate into isolation, fewer cultural resources, and limited visibility. This insight suggests the importance of targeted recruitment, retention, and support initiatives to ensure these groups are not overlooked in diversity efforts.

Black Population

The Black Population for USC undergraduates graduates, and faculty is 7%(1,447) 5%(1,375) and 5%(108) respectively. The overall number of black students enrolled was 6.1%.

Analysis: This number is 4.5% lower than the national average of 12.5% in 2022. USCs highest enrollment of black students was in 2022 with 11% of black students, however fall 2023 marked the highest number of black students offered admission. The total number of black students enrolled overall last year was 8%, 2% higher than this year. This shift might be reflective of a broader trend of Black Enrollment declines at PWI's after the removal of affirmative action. While we do not have concrete studies on that for this year, we can look at similar examples in history to get an understanding. In 1995, the University of California (UC) Board of Regents banned race-conscious admissions which lead to a 64% drop in Black student enrollment at UC schools in the following year.

Despite false stereotypes about the low number of black students enrolled in higher education, in 2022 36% of black youth ages 18-24 were enrolled in college which is only a 2% deviation from the national average. Additionally, according to findings compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics, black women were the most educated population with 64.1% obtaining bachelor’s degrees, 71.5% of obtaining masters degrees and 65.9% obtaining doctoral, medical, and dental degrees.

This data lets us know that despite historical and modern barriers to education for black students, they continue pursue higher education. On another note, Black Students at USC have created a vibrant campus community, with their active partcipation in black led clubs, an involved alumni network, and their dedication to Divine 9 fraternities and Sororities. However, Black students at this instiution still face targeted discriination and hate-crimes. For example, following the recent incident with Iryna Zarutska, several Black students revealed violent threats, that were quickly dismissed by law enforcement as a hoax.

Largest Ethnic Groups

The largest Ethnic group for undergraduate students was white making up 25%, International for graduate students with 37%, and white for faculty with 59%.

Analysis: The prevalence of white students attending this university is unsurprising due to USC's classification as a predominantly white institution. This data also further underscores the notion that USC houses a large international population, the national average s only 5%. The more significant information we can draw from this is that USC houses a much larger population of Graduate international students. Another thing that is interesting is the high percentage of white faculty, which is sisgnificantly higher than the student body. This can be due to a wide number of reason. one, it might just be indicative of the greater US population. Two, it may be correlated marginalized communities attending and graduating from colleges and univerisities at higher rates than previous generations. And three, the univerisity might not be as concerned on creating a diverse and inclusive faculty base.