Welcome to the Post-Bachelor's World

Overview & Synopsis

Post-baccalaureate education has emerged as one of the fastest growing segments of higher education. Over the past decade, master's degree enrollment in the U.S. has grown 35%--and the share of adults that hold a master's degree has gone from less than 7% to nearly 9% of the population. Keeping the supply and demand dynamics of basic economic theory in mind, it is noteworthy that despite this substantial increase in supply--5 million more individuals with a master's degree in the workforce--the wage premium for master's degree holders has grown significantly, while it has stayed flat or in some cases declined for those with lower levels of education. The growth of post-baccalaureate education and life long learning is discussed in this article.