New Research Reveals How Colleges and Universities Can Leverage Publicly Available Data to Strengthen Program Offerings and Messaging Around Their Earnings Benchmarks to Effectively Enroll Today’s Career-Minded Students.

BOSTON, MA – April 24, 2025

Encoura®, an industry-leading educational technology and research organization, announced today the recent publication of the fourth annual Eduventures Bachelor’s Market Update. Designed to track bachelor’s program market developments over time, this series of reports provides colleges and universities with the most up-to-date view on key market trends to

inform programmatic strategy and decision-making. Given the current higher education climate, however, the 2025 iteration turns from its typical focus on degree conferrals and enrollments, to shed light on the most debated topic in education today: outcomes.

The maximum enrollment ceiling for college-bound high school students will soon be on the decline – an issue that is not helped by the long-term decline in adult undergraduate enrollment. Given this reality, how should colleges and universities work to ensure proportional enrollment doesn’t fall with it, especially at a time with a rise in public questioning of the value of a bachelor’s degree?

With today’s prospective students and families increasingly prioritizing career and earning outcomes in their education decisions, this year’s Bachelor’s Market Update details specific market outcomes by program and field that institutions should monitor and promote to most effectively provide offerings that meet the needs of these students.

Key Research Insights Include:

• The “career-minded” brand construct increases in importance for prospective students across all college and university types.
• For all bachelor’s degree completers, median annual salaries grow by 40% (or just under $18,000) from one to five years post degree completion (adjusted for inflation) – beating all sub-bachelor’s credential earnings.
• School selectivity significantly influences bachelor’s earnings.
• While social science graduates initially earn less than those in computer science or business, their median earnings grow faster over time.
• Overall, bachelor’s completers’ annual five-year earnings is 2.6 times the debt load at graduation.
• The Big Five Fields (engineering, business/management, health, biological and biomedical sciences, and computer and information sciences) exceed five-year median salaries and income-to-debt ratio of most fields – appealing to prospective students' career-aligned sentiments.
• All engineering and engineering technology subfields lead to better than average median value earnings.

“The value of a college education has become central to discussions about higher education across the country. It’s now imperative for colleges and universities to know and promote the outcomes for their program offerings in order to address the value debate, restore confidence, and strengthen enrollment rates amidst declining total enrollment. This year’s Bachelor’s Market Update empowers institutions to grow their enrollment through aligning their program portfolio and marketing messaging to what’s top-of-mind for today’s students and families,” said Clint Raine, Eduventures Senior Analyst and primary author of this study.

As college bound students become increasingly career-minded, placing more emphasis on outcomes will allow institutions to meet policymakers where they are by focusing on programs that offer the best earnings outcomes—both on their own and relative to student debt.

Eduventures’ latest Bachelor Market Update helps institutions have the right conversations and decision-making around resource allocation, program prioritization, and speaking to the goals of today’s prospective students – strategies that are essential to implement correctly with the arrival of the enrollment cliff.

The full report is available to Eduventures partners in the Encoura Platform, with the infographic summary available to the public here.