The University of Illinois at Chicago exists as a campus since 1982, when two campuses of the University of Illinois system were consolidated (the Chicago Circle and the Medical Center). Yet, even before UIC officially came into existence, Latinos identified the institution as a potential bridge to empower the community and educate its youth. UIC is strategically located close to the two historically largest Latino neighborhoods in the southwest side of the city. In fact, UIC was built in 1965 on what was then a vibrant Latino community. For those and other reasons, the Latino community made an important decision in the early 1970s, UIC would become the institution of higher education for the Latino youth.

Almost concurrently, local and state officials, as well as the University community, envisioned a bright future for the institution. UIC was to become a leading institution of higher education in the state and the nation. Significant steps were taken, and continue to be taken, to achieve that goal. UIC was classified as a Research I Institution in the late 80’s and currently UIC is pursuing membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities. A bigger budget, higher admission standards, more stringent academic curricula and a better known reputation nationally have ensued and will continue to characterize the young institution.

However, at first, it might seem that the institution’s goal to excel in the field of higher education are not compatible with the Latino community’s intention to make UIC the institution where its youth is to be educated. The sources for the tensions are obvious. Most Latino students attend public schools and their academic qualifications are below admission standards of universities with the reputation UIC aims to achieve. Urban universities with better reputation usually attract more students from outside the metropolitan areas where they are located, making the admissions process even more competitive. It is difficult for a Chicago Public School system graduate to compete with a student trained at private schools or public schools from other Illinois counties.

This paper does not aim to point those tensions out. The potential for conflict is both self-evident and has been widely researched and documented elsewhere. Here, we aim to study the actual process by which these tensions have been worked out to the extent that they have been solved. We look at demographic data of UIC students over the 1980-1996 period. We identify trends that might help explain how the University has successfully managed to increase the number of Latino students and improve its academic reputation at the same time.

We show how the university has increased the number of Latino students. We provide some evidence of UIC’s improved academic ranking. However, the improvement in UIC’s reputation is also well documented elsewhere. We show how the improvement in reputation has not come at the expense of Latino presence at UIC. We find that UIC has succeeded in improving the overall situation of Latino students at the same time that it has improved its academic standing nationally. We do not make any claims as to the reasons behind this phenomenon. It could have happened because of UIC’s official commitment to diversity and to the education of Latino students or despite the lack of such commitment in reality. Certainly, we believe that the Latino community has had a lot to do with the final outcome, the improvement in reputation for UIC and the increase in Latino student representation on campus. We believe that it suffices to show evidence that both processes have occurred simultaneously. Minimally, we hope to prove that the two processes are not mutually exclusive. In the end we provide some argumentation as to what conditions are necessary (although perhaps not sufficient) for growth in reputation and growth in Latino presence to go hand and hand.

UIC is one of the four Research I universities in the state of Illinois. Along with the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, UIC meets the criteria set forth by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. UIC offers "a full range of baccalaureate programs, is committed to graduate education through the doctorate, and give high priority to research. They award 50 or more doctoral degrees each year. In addition, they receive annually 40-million or more in federal support." (Almanac 97-98: Facts and Figures: 6)

UIC’s increasingly growing academic reputation is also evidenced in the U.S. News and World Report’s ranking. UIC was placed on the top of the third tier of the 1997 report. With a 2.4 (4.0 scale), UIC placed above better known schools such as The University of New Mexico, Rutgers University, Washington State, De Paul and Bowling Green. The improvement in freshmen retention rates (70%) has aided UIC’s rank in the scale. Although the low graduation rate (36% in 1996) has hurt UIC’s reputation.

The Student/Faculty ratio at UIC currently stands at 14/1, an impressive figure. UIC’s library is ranked #64 among the nation’s university libraries, above Iowa State, Purdue University, U of California at Irvine, Brown and Auburn (The Chronicle of Higher Education http://www.chronicle.com/).

UIC’s acceptance rate stands at 63%, a lower percentage than several years ago. UIC is becoming a more competitive school. That is precisely why it is so important to study how UIC has been able to combine a move to gain academic reputation with an increase in the number of Latino students attending the school. The next section discusses the successes, limitations and failures that have characterized the process over the 1980-1998 period.

UIC has defined its mission to comprise "three traditional elements --teaching, research and public service-- each shaped by and relevant to its metropolitan setting as well as the University of Illinois’s traditional pursuit of excellence." Moreover, the document states that "UIC takes special account and advantage of the extraordinary ethnic and cultural diversity of the Chicago metropolitan area, which encompasses two-thirds of the population of Illinois and from which it presently draws most of its undergraduate students" (http://www.uic.edu/catalog/UN/html). The education of Latinos, therefore, is central to UIC’s mission.

During the period under study, the number of Latinos increased significantly in the city of Chicago, Cook County and the State of Illinois. According to the 1990 Census, the 677,949 Latinos living in Cook County comprised 21% of the county’s population. Among that group, 41,937 were enrolled in college (6.2%). A striking number of 228,771 (33% of the Latinos counted in the 1990 Census in Cook County) were either too young to go to school or enrolled in elementary or high school. The Latino population in the Cook County is young and according to most accounts continues to grow via immigration.

The rapid growth of Latinos will necessitate the development of programs to educate them. Higher education is one of the steps in the process. Certainly, it is not the first issue that needs to be dealt with, but if the Latino community is to succeed, then opening the doors of higher education to the Latino youth must be a priority. UIC’s mission and the community’s commitment to educate its population provide the theoretical ground upon which Latino student presence at UIC must be justified and developed. To be sure, UIC’s mission has been influenced by the community’s will to educate its youth. The community’s concern and the vision of its leaders have helped set the ground upon which the University’s ethnic mission has developed.

Below we analyze the 16-year trends in Latino enrollment at UIC. Although we only concentrate on what happens at UIC, we do make general references to the trends of population growth among Latinos. However, this is not a study on Latino demographics at the city of Chicago or Cook County nor is it a study on what should constitute a fair Latino representation among UIC students. We will avoid making sweeping normative generalizations about target enrollment figures for Latinos at UIC.

The Latino student population at UIC has experienced a steady growth since 1980. At the time, the 1,654 Latino students constituted 7.9% of the university population. Sixteen years later, the number of Latinos had doubled to 3,252, or 13.2% of the total. In the same period, the number of African American students went from 3,459 (16.5%) down to 2,422 (9.9%). Overall, in 1980, Latinos and African American students constituted 24.4% of the student population. In 1996, African American and Latino students accounted for 23.1% of the student population at UIC. Overall, then, the representation of traditionally underrepresented minority students did not change significantly over the 16 years. The number of Latinos increased, but the number of African American students decreased accordingly.

Nonetheless, overall, the University increased its student population from 21,001 in 1980 to roughly 24,500 during the 90s. So, while the 1,654 Latinos and 3,459 African American students represented 24.4% of the total in 1980, by 1996 there were 5,674 students from underrepresented minority groups (23.1%).

During that time, UIC made significant gains in its reputation as an institution of higher education. That gain has not come at the cost of reducing the representation of underrepresented minority groups in the student population. However, the make up of UIC’s minority population has changed over the years. In part, this has resulted as the minority ethnic makeup of the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs has become more diversified. There is, also, a source of concern about the representation of African American students at UIC. However, such concern lies beyond the scope of this paper.

Over the past 17 years, UIC has made impressive gains on increasing the presence of Latino students. In 1996, however, for the first time in the period, there was a decrease in the number from the year before. Although it is unclear whether the downward trend will continue, there might be indications that an upper bound has been reached.

The obvious policy question is what constitutes an acceptable percentage of Latino students at UIC? Regardless of Affirmative Action concerns and the legal question behind it, what percentage of Latino students at UIC would best reflect the Latino presence in the city, the larger metropolitan area and the state of Illinois. At what point can UIC claim that they have reached an acceptable level of Latino student representation at UIC?

As indicated above, 41,937 Latinos enrolled in college in Cook County in 1990. UIC had 2,227 Latinos enrolled as students the same year. Obviously not all Latinos enrolled at UIC were from Cook County. Nonetheless, UIC did account for approximately 5% of all Cook County Latinos enrolled in college that year.

Compared to other schools, UIC performed well. In 1995, only a handful of state schools had higher percentages of Latinos enrolled than UIC. 13.8% of UIC students were Latinos in 1995 (Chronicle of Higher Education, Facts and Figures: Enrollment by Race: Illinois, 1995). Only 17 schools had greater Latino presence than UIC among all state schools. Harold Washington College (15.2%), Harry Truman College (37.4%), Malcom X College (27.2%), Olive Harvey College (15.2%), Richard Daley College (51.7%), Wilbur Wright College (31.6%), De Vry Institute of Technology-Chicago (22.1%), Elgin Community College (17.4%), ITT Tech Institute Hoffman Estates (26.2%), Lexington Inst. Of Hospitality Careers (27.3%), MacCormac College (41%), Morton College (44.5%), Northeastern University (17.6%), Robert Morris College (27.3%), Saint Agustine College (94.3%)Taylor Business Institute (26.9%), Triton College (16.1%) and Wabounsee Community College (21.3%).

UIC ranked better than the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (4.6%), Southern University at Carbondale (2.3%), Chicago State University (4.1%), Columbia College (11.1%), De Paul University (8.0%), IIT (4.8%), Northern Illinois (4.4%), Roosevelt (7.4%). On the other hand, among African Americans, UIC ranked 49th in the list of schools with high African American presence.

(1982-1985: the first data is reported in the 1985 Student Data Book, the second group is reported in the 1986 Student Data Book; i.e, 1982: 1,590/1,799, 7.6/7.0, etc.)

Although the presence of Latino students among UIC’s graduate population has increased over the years, undergraduates still comprise more than 80% of all Latino students. Freshmen make up about one third of the Latino student population. Not all freshmen are first year students, many students are actually in their second or third year of college but have not completed enough credits to be classified as sophomore.

The number of Latino seniors increased from 303 in 1985 to 773 in 1998. Below we discuss graduation rates and numbers for Latino students. Here, it suffices to say that while there were half as many seniors as freshmen in 1985 (303 to 562), by 1996 the number of seniors was slightly lower than that of freshmen (779 to 896). This indicates a potential problem as well as an apparent success. It is a success because it indicates that retention rates have increased. Seniors represented 68% of freshmen in 1990, 45% of freshmen in 1991, 52% in 1992, 56% in 1993, 63% in 1994, 74% in 1995, and 87% in 1996. However, the number of Latinos obtaining their bachelor degrees has not increased accordingly. There is still significant room for improvement to convert higher retention rates into higher graduation rates.

The number of Latino students enrolled in professional schools has diminished over the years as well. The decrease among Latinos in the professional schools together with the rather slow increase in the Latino presence in the Graduate College remain areas where there needs to be an improvement. The university does need to do a better job in increasing the number of Latino students in professional schools and in the Graduate College. In 1996, Latinos comprised 5.7% of the Graduate College. This represents a two-fold increase over the 2.9% figure of 1985. Yet, if we compare it with the 18% average of Latinos among undergraduate freshmen, the 5.7% Latino presence among students in the Graduate College remains remarkably low.

The increase in Latino enrollment at UIC is mostly due to an increase among Latino undergraduates. However, within undergraduate Latinos, the largest increase has come from Latinas. From 1985 to 1996, Latinas increased from 798 to 1,877, a 135% increase. Latinos went from 760 to 1,375, an impressive 81% increase. While the overall presence of Latinos and African American students increased during the period, the population of Latino and African American male students decreased. By 1996, Latinas represented 14% of all female students at UIC, while Latinos comprised 12% of all male UIC students.

The number of Latino freshmen entering UIC every year has been a focal area to measure UIC’s commitment to educating Latinos. Latinos represented 11.3% of all entering freshmen in 1980 and reached a peak of 22.2% in 1994. In 1998, Latinos comprised 17.9% of the entering freshmen class. However, the size of the entering freshmen class varied significantly. The largest class was the 1980, with 3,173 students. The smallest entering freshmen class was in 1987, with 2,282 students. The relative presence of Latino students steadily increased from 1980 until 1994 when it began to decline. Yet, in absolute numbers, the peak was reached in 1993, when 577 Latino freshmen entered UIC. In the late 80’s, Latinos consistently comprised 15% of the freshmen class. In 1991 a big increase took place which placed Latinos over 20% of the entering class. The percentage continued to increase until 1994 when it reached a peak and then it began to decline.

The increase in the size of the freshmen class might have something to do with the Latino decline. The net change in Latino Freshmen enrollment from 1995 to 1996 was 20 students, yet the share of the Latinos in the freshmen class decreased from 20.4% to 17.7%. The decline was more significant because the increase in the size of the freshmen class came about alongside a small decline in the total number of Latino freshmen. I discuss the issue of ACTs and Latino freshmen below. Here I will only claim that the growth experienced during the early 90’s could not have been maintained for much longer. If the growth rate experienced in 1989-93 had been maintained, by the year 2000 Latinos would have comprised about 40% of the freshmen population. The type of growth experienced between 1989 and 1993 should be understood, more than as a linear function, as an asymptotic function. In fact, the graph with the absolute number of Latino students from 1980 to 1996 loosely resembles a logarithmic function with an upper bound limit near 600 students.

As we argued above, it is not our intention to determine what should be a target number or what enrollment goals UIC should strive for. We simply claim that, because there are other ethnic groups served by UIC and because diversity needs to be a priority, there is a natural ceiling on the proportion of Latino freshmen as well as in the absolute number of Latino Freshmen who enter UIC. The historical data presented here, as well as some strong common sense intuition would place those numbers at 600 individual students or roughly 20% of an entering freshmen class of 3,000.

The 1980’s can be characterized as the decade of the consolidation of Latino presence in the Chicago metropolitan area. The growth of the Latino population also meant that many Latinos who originally lived within the limits of the City of Chicago moved to the suburbs. Subsequent migration from Latin America was no longer restricted to the City of Chicago but it encompassed the surrounding suburbs as well. The next issue to consider is the origin of the new students admitted into UIC. We focus exclusively on freshmen because they constitute a significant majority of the new students and because most Latinos who come to UIC are freshmen.

Table 6 shows that while almost 90% of all Latino Freshmen admitted in 1985 were from Chicago, by 1998 only 77% of all new Latino Freshmen resided within the city limits. The remaining 23% were either from the suburbs surrounding the city or from down state. In the 14 years for which we have data, Latino freshmen from the city increased in absolute numbers from 244 to 404, a two-fold increase. Latino freshmen from the suburbs however increased their number four-fold from 27 to 96. Nonetheless, even with that increase, residents of the city of Chicago remain an overwhelming majority of the Latino student population.

We argued above that UIC had made a strong effort to improve its academic standing as a university. Nowhere is this effort as apparent as in the increase in the average ACT of the entering freshmen student population. In 1980, the average UIC Freshmen student scored 18.9 in the ACT. By 1998, the UIC ACT average had increased to 22.8. Every year, with the increase in the ACT requirements, some Latinos who would have been admitted in earlier years are being denied admission.

The average ACT score for Latinos increased from 19.4 in 1993 to 20.3 in 1996. The latest figure indicates that in 1997 it was also 20.3, as opposed to 22.5 for all freshmen. However, Latinos tend to obtain higher HSPR scores than the average UIC student. In 1997, Latinos ranked 77.1 on their graduating class, higher than the UIC overall average of 75.6. More research needs to be conducted to assess the effect of ACT and HSPR on retention and graduation rates. It suffices to say, however, that as ACT and other admission standards become more stringent, a different pool of students, Latinos and non-Latinos, will apply to UIC. So far, it has not meant a large shift to suburban Latinos nor has it significantly reduced the number of Latino students admitted to UIC. Yet, it has meant that many Latinos who scored low on their ACT and would have been admitted 10 years ago were now being denied admission.

A final caveat to keep in mind is that if UIC were to bring the minimum ACT score to 24, then 80% of the Latino students admitted as Freshmen in Fall 1996 would have been denied admission at UIC. The minimum ACT level that students can have to be admitted to UIC will have a direct effect on the number of Latino students attending UIC. The higher the minimum, the lower the number of Latino students will be.

The number of Transfer students at UIC has decreased from 2,462 in 1980 to 1,806 in 1998. The steady 26% decrease over the 18-year period responds to the effort to recruit more and better qualified freshmen rather than transfer students. The decrease in the overall number of Transfer students, however, has not affected Latino enrollment among Transfer students.

In 1980, 135 Latinos enrolled as new transfer students. The comprised 6.4% of the entering transfer class. By 1998, 227 Latino transfers comprised 12.6% of the entering class, the highest ever for UIC. Overall, then, Latinos increased their share of the entering transfer class two-fold and in real numbers the Latino presence was increased as well. Overall, part of the decline in the number of Transfer students comes from changes in the way UIC classifies students.

The sharp increase in the number of Latino students attending community colleges, in particular the City Colleges of Chicago has not been reflected in an a significant increase in the number of Latinos transferring to UIC. Some City College of Chicago campuses have a significant presence of Latino students. The data from 1996 reports that in Malcom X, Latinos comprised 27.2% of the student body. Latinos also comprised a large population in colleges such as Richard Daley (51.7%), Harry Truman (37.4%), Wright (31.6%), Robert Morris (27.3%) and Olive Harvey (15.2%). The case of Saint Augustine College is exceptional, 94.3% of the students are Latinos.

The slow growth of the Latino transfer population at UIC thus should represent a source of concern for those who want to increase Latino student presence at this campus. Latinos are lining up to enter Community Colleges, but they are not transferring to UIC once they have completed their education there. A comprehensive policy should be developed by UIC to address the issue of transfer students. There is a growing number of Latino students getting their education at community colleges. Their chances of success would increase significantly if they completed their education at an institution of higher education like UIC. UIC has made significant progress on recruiting Latino Freshmen to the campus. Recruitment of Latino transfers has not followed suit

UIC has changed its policies on Special Programs over the years. A brief history of Special Programs will help us understand the scope and focus of UIC’s policies. To be sure, a more detailed study would reveal the intricacies and inner workings of the different policies that led to the creation of the Special Programs. The Educational Assistance Program was the first special program created in the late1960. A majority of the Latino students first admitted to UIC (UICC) came in through programs sponsored by EAP. With the creation of LARES in 1975, an official program was established to recruit and retain Latino students at UIC. In 1994, EAP was eliminated and the students the program still had were transferred to LARES or AAAN (African American Academic Network). In the 1980s, two other Special Programs were created. The Honors College was created to attract students with high ACT scores and good academic performance. The President’s Award Program attempted to bring to UIC African American and Latino students with superior academic achievements as well.

It is not mandatory for Latino students to be enrolled in LARES. However, a majority of the Latino students enrolled in 1996 were also enrolled in LARES. In 1990, the first year for which public data is available, 42% of all Latinos enrolled at UIC were also a part of LARES. By 1994, the number had increased to 65%, 71% in 1995 and 74% in 1996. Until the 1996-97 Academic Year, LARES students had priority registration. It is unclear if the university decision to eliminate priority registration will have any effect on the number of students enrolled in the LARES Program. To be sure, LARES provides more services to the students other than priority registration. These services include academic counseling, financial aid workshops, mentors and other support and retention programs. LARES is also charged with recruiting new Latino students to UIC.

Since 1990, LARES has grown from 930 students to 2,681 in 1996. The impressive growth in the size of the program has not been mirrored in the budget LARES is allocated. Although the budget has grown, the growth is no way near the growth in the number of students enrolled in the program.

The impressive growth among the undergraduate body of Latino students has not been mirrored in the Graduate College. Although the absolute number of Latinos in the Graduate College has increased from 151 in 1986 to 335 in 1998, Latino still make up less than 6% of the Graduate College population. There is not much to discuss on Latino presence in the Graduate College because there has not been much done to increase the number of Latinos in that college. Among all the areas, we find the least progress made in enrollment in the Graduate College. Much more needs to be done if the University is to meet its mission to foster ethnic and cultural diversity in the classrooms.

UIC’s graduation rate is one of the areas where significant improvements need to be made if UIC’s reputation is to continue to improve. Graduation rates among Latino students seem to be lower than among other ethnic groups. Latinos have represented about 15% of the entering freshmen class since 1980 (and more than 20% in 1991-95). Yet until 1998 Latinos comprised no more than 11% of the graduating class. On the other hand, African American students with an average of 10% of the entering freshmen class have comprised about 8% of the graduating class over the past few years. It remains to be seen whether the sharp increased in the number of Latino freshmen in the early 90’s will be mirrored by a similar increase in the number of Latino graduates. That phenomenon, however, should have already be underway. Even if we assume that it takes an average of 5 years to complete college, then the sharp increase in Latino Freshmen enrollment in 1991 should have led to a similar increase in Latino graduation figures by 1996. Latinos are either taking more years to graduate or many of them are not finishing school. The graduation rate at UIC is rather low, 36% as reported by U.S. News and World Report (http://www.usnews.com). Yet, it seems to be even lower for Latinos. Latino representation among UIC graduates is comparable to the 1985 entering Freshmen class, when Latinos comprised 11.3% of UIC’s freshmen.

More research needs to be done in the area of Latino graduation rates, but the impressive increase in the number of Latino freshmen in the early 90’s has not materialized in an equally impressive growth of Latinos among UIC graduating classes.

We consider these findings preliminary and would suggest they should be used to shape the scope of further studies and to direct areas where policy should be amended or new policies should be implemented. By no means do we claim these findings to be the definitive word on the status of Latino students at UIC. We do claim that at least we can observe that, in general, Latino student growth is not necessarily contradictory with improvement in the academic standing of a university. We claim that the two processes can happen together. On a normative analysis, we believe they should happen together. On purely practical considerations, we have attempted to show that they can happen together.

However, we also aim to influence the way in which policies are shaped at UIC. Below are some of the general recommendations we make on the larger issues we have considered in this paper.

• The growth of the Latino student population should not be at the expense of the African American student population. More diversity does not mean more of one group and less of another.
• The growth of Latino student enrollment should be across all colleges, including the Graduate College where much needs to be done.
• The impressive growth among Latina enrollment should be commended, Latino (male) enrollment has also grown but at a much smaller rate. The tragic situation of African American male enrollment should be prevented from happening to Latino males.
• There is probably an upper bound on the number of Latino freshmen that can attend UIC and their proportion of the UIC freshmen class. Although that number needs to be clearly determined, we predict that it should be around 20% or 600 individual students. The improvements made should not be lost, the 2-year decline in the number and percentage of Latino freshmen should concern us.
• A majority of Latino freshmen continue to come from within the City of Chicago. UIC’s urban commitment reflected in part in the overwhelmingly Chicago-based Latino population should be maintained.
• A more pro-active stand should be taken to increase the number of Latino transfer students, to reflect the growth among the Latino student population in the City Colleges of Chicago.
• A majority of the Latino student population continues to be enrolled in LARES. LARES has grown by 150% since 1990. The success of LARES will have an impact on the success of Latino students at UIC.
• Latino graduation rates need to improve, Latinos need to get an education and get their degrees. The necessary steps should be taken to improve graduation rates among Latino students.

Chronicle of Higher Education. 1997. Almanac 97-98. Http://chronicle.com/

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Patricio Navia

Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Latinos

December 8, 1996

With ACT data available for 3070 students beginning in Fall 1995, 2214 (72.1%) enrolled in Fall 1996 while 856 (27.9%) did not enroll in Fall 1996. A simple bivariate correlation between ACT scores and "Fall 96 Registration" shows that there is no statistically significant correlation between ACT scores and 1-year retention.

Correlation between ACT scores and 1-year Retention = 0.0275 ( 3070) P= .128*

Correlation ACT scores and 1-year retention (Latinos only) = .0424 (607) P=.297*

* Not statistically significant at the 0.05 level.

An increase in ACT scores did not result in increased retention at UIC for students entering in Fall 1995. I have shown elsewhere (appendix 1) that Orientation helps increase retention at all levels of ACT scores. Increase in ACT requirements, however, will limit access to Latino and African American students as they represent the largest proportion of students with low ACT entering UIC. Latinos represented 44% of all students with ACT scores lower than 16 (144 students). African Americans comprised 20.8% of that group. In the ACT score group of 16-20 (1159 students), Latinos comprised 29% of the group and African American students were 18.8%.

Overall, 65.9% of all the 607 Latino students entering in Fall 95 (who had ACT scores on record) had ACT scores of 20 or less. 68.5% of African American students also had ACT scores of 20 or less.

The 1996 Entering Freshmen class was the largest since 1982. 2807 students came to UIC as Freshmen in Fall 1996. 496 of them were Latinos. According to the Student Databook, the ethnic breakdown was as follows:

A more detailed analysis sheds more light into the relationship that exists between one-year retention, ACT scores and Summer Orientation. Table 1 shows One year Retention rates for ACT scores grouped into categories.