The disconnected: COVID-19 and disparities in access to quality broadband for higher education students

Table 2 Number and proportion of undergraduate, postgraduate, full-time, and part-time student enrolments at risk of poor access to high speed broadband

ED at-risk measure	UG	UG (%)	PG	PG (%)	FT	FT (%)	PT	PT (%)
Low coverage EDs	14,414	10.1%	2,048	8.4%	13,729	10.3%	2733	8.1%
Very low coverage EDs	5286	3.7%	722	3.0%	5029	3.8%	979	2.9%
Minimal coverage EDs	2468	1.7%	333	1.4%	2340	1.7%	461	1.4%
No coverage EDs	2330	1.6%	268	1.1%	2245	1.7%	353	1.0%
All poor coverage (at-risk) EDs	24,498	17.1%	3371	13.8%	23,343	17.5%	4526	13.4%
all EDs	143,214		24,362		133,756		33,820

Low coverage denotes between 25 and 50% of residential addresses in ED have access to high speed broadband services as per National Broadband Plan map, very low coverage denotes between 10 and 25%, minimal coverage denotes between 0 and 10%, and no coverage denotes no residential addresses in ED have access to high speed broadband services. Poor coverage is defined as fewer than 50% of residential addresses in an ED having access to high speed broadband services. UG denotes undergraduate, PG denotes postgraduate, FT denotes full-time, and PT denotes part-time
Source: Analysis of data from HEA, GeoDirectory, and NBP