Employment and Earnings Outcomes Shape Graduate Students’ Perceptions of Program Value
Survey
Jan. 2024
Sample Size:
1,000
Demographics:
Graduate and professional students
Topics:
Learning
Value
Top Findings:
- Students’ decisions about enrolling in a graduate program are primarily guided by their future employment opportunities and earning potential. Advancing in their field of choice (98%), getting a good job (97%), and earning more money than they would without an advanced degree (95%) had the largest total factor percentage scores and greatly influenced respondents’ decision to attend graduate school.
- Less than 60% of recent grad respondents felt their grad school did “very well” in helping them get a good job (a 23 percentage-point drop from what they had hoped) or earn more money than they would have otherwise (a 21 percentage-point drop).
- Employment is a mediating factor in how graduate students perceive the value of their graduate program. Graduate students give their institutions a high mark for quality, with 89% rating their overall educational quality as “excellent” or “good.”
- A plurality of respondents (30%) report earning about what they expected, but there is an even split between those making more (35%) or less (36%) than expected. Others are unaware if their program provided their desired earnings boost, with 39% saying they were unsure or didn’t think they made more than their less-credentialed peers. At the same time, nearly a quarter of graduate students indicated they were struggling to make ends meet when asked about their current financial situation.