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Table 34. Highest educational attainment of either parent of doctorate recipients: Selected years, 1986–2016

(Percent)

Year Parental education attainment (%)
High school or less Some collegea Bachelor's degree Advanced degree
1986 37.1 14.6 22.6 25.7
1991 32.5 15.3 20.3 31.9
1996 28.2 14.3 21.9 35.5
2001 23.9 13.6 22.3 40.1
2006 21.7 13.3 25.5 39.0
2011 19.0 12.9 25.4 42.0
2016 17.6 12.7 25.9 43.2
a Includes those who attended college but did not earn a bachelor's.
NOTE: Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding and because 199 doctorate recipients (0.05%) reported "not applicable/unknown" for both father's and mother's education in 2006, 283 doctorate recipients (0.07%) reported "not applicable/unknown" for both father's and mother's education in 2011, and 274 doctorate recipients (0.06%) reported "not applicable/unknown" for both father's and mother's education in 2016.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates.