Demographic Criteria List - v1.0-1

Owned by Nicolette delMuro
Last updated: Oct 12, 2021
2 min read

The NSPA-SPE-DC list hosts demographic information related to scholarship programs.

Standard Name: NSPA Demographic Criteria List
Standard ID: NSPA-SPE-DC-v1.0-1
Issued By: NSPA
Version: 1.0-1
Obsoletes: NSPA-SPE-DC-v1.0d-1
Obsoleted By: --

Overview

The purpose of the NSPA-SPE-DC list is to define and standardize values used to refer unambiguously to demographic criteria in the context of scholarship eligibility and applications.

List Values

View the full list:

Illustrative examples from this list:

  • Male

  • Female

  • Nonbinary

  • Alaska Native

  • San Felipe Pueblo

Usage

In scholarship data exchange scenarios, demographic criteria include coding for concepts such as gender, ethnicity, race, heritage, and ancestry. These values are inclusive of how eligibility criteria are actually stated today by program providers, and we work hard to minimize offense. Awkwardly, this well-meaning effort to connect scholars with opportunities for which they might be eligible causes unintended offense — with an ideal scholarship candidate sometimes objecting to the terms used by a program in describing their eligibility.

Gender

Gender is defined as how an individual identifies with male and female characteristics in their social construct. This may or may not align with one’s biological sex. A person’s gender is separate from their sexual orientation.

Race

Race is explained as “a division of mankind possessing traits that are transmissible by descent and sufficient to characterize it as a distinct human type”. Race(s) are self-identifiable and individuals can identify with more than one. The current list entries are harmonized with the U.S. Census Bureau list of races.

Ancestry

Ancestry refers to one’s heritage or line of descent. Individuals may identify with more than one ancestry. The primary values from this list were based on scholarships actually seen, but normalized against the most common entries in the U.S. Census Bureau's list of ancestries.

References

In an effort to be inclusive and comprehensive, the following information was referenced for the code list: 

The code list aligns with the values used by the U.S. Census Bureau for consistency and standardization purposes.

On this page:

All NSPA lists: