Does anyone know where I can find statistics about college graduates? Looking for percentage of population with a BS/BA, with a MS/MA, average salaries, etc. I have looked at the census bureau but I am concerned that it only gives me information about the people that have responed. Thanks
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an annual "Almanac" edition, which is full of these kinds of data. Almost any university library would subscribe, and larger public libraries. The data are available on-line (www.chronicle.com) but, I am pretty sure, only to subscribers. I believe the annual Almanac issue just came out, so the figures would be as up to date as you could get anywhere.
Excellent question. If you can't afford the costly subscription to the Chronicle, the U.S. Census answered the question in June, based on the last nationwide census. Here's what they found based on people 25 years of age or older: 86% have high school degrees 15.5% have bachelor's degrees 8.9% have graduate or professional degrees The city with the highest number of college educated adults was Boulder, Colo., with 52.4%. The city with the lowest percentage or college educated adults was Merced, California. Kinda interesting, I thought. Steve
The Economist sends out a "Pocket World in Figures" booklet. In this they list "tertiary enrolment" (which they define as all post-secondary education, including courses not leading to a degree). By this metric, South Africa scores 17%, Japan 43%, UK 52%, Australia 80%, USA 81%. Top scorer: Canada with 90% of population who enroll in tertiary education. I'm sure these numbers are quite unreliable. But fun nonetheless.
A more reliable source of data is the 2002 NSF Higher Education in Science and Engineering report. This obviously has a somewhat narrow focus. But it has some interesting charts. E.g. there's a chart that shows 14.5 million higher education students enrolled in 3,400 U.S. institutions. Of these, 2.2 million graduate each year, with 541,000 in science and engineering. Of these science/engineering degrees, 29,000 were associate's, 391,000 bachelor's, 94,000 master's, 27,000 doctorates. Of the bachelor's degrees, 185,000 were in social & behavioural sciences, 105,000 in natural sciences, 61,000 in engineering, 40,000 in math and computer sciences. Etc. Quite fascinating.
