Why are more people applying for graduate school?

A look at the pros and cons of higher education

Over time, more and more students are getting more advanced degrees in higher education. Both the overall number of graduate students and the number of new graduate students each year are increasing. Colleges are seeing record numbers of applicants and are admitted more students than they might have in the past, although there are still over twice as many students with a bachelors degree than a masters.

The number of graduate students is increasing rapidly.

The difference in the number of graduate students each year is also increasing, meaning that each year, more students are admitted to graduate school than the previous year, in general.

Even though masters education is on the rise, there are still many more who have achieved a bachelors degree and not a masters.

With such a significant trend, it’s worth exploring— why are more people getting graduate degrees? Is it just a result of population growth, or is there another reason behind this trend?

In general, professionals with a graduate degree make more money than professionals with other types of education. Increased income is certainly a reasonable cause for attending graduate school. An additional question to consider might be on how this income is spent. Are these professionals spending money on necessities or on extra, frivolous things?

While the income boost could allow for the fun purchases many people think of when disposable income comes up, such as owning a larger house or buying fancy appliances like smart fridges and pressure cookers, some of these professionals may be putting their spare money into cars and transportation.

The majority of Americans, over 75%, drive to work. The second most common method of getting to work also involves cars– 9.4% of Americans carpool in order to get to work. It makes sense, then, that professionals with a masters degree might have more cars (or nicer ones).

As it turns out, there is a slight but still present correlation between US counties with many people owning two cars and many people having a graduate degree. Interestingly, the correlation is only for two vehicles. There is no correlation between counties with high numbers graduate degree holders and owning three or more vehicles, nor is there a correlation between having one or no vehicles and a graduate degree.

There is a slight but still significant correlation between having a graduate degree and having two available vehicles. The r squared value for this graph is 0.217, which indicates a weak positive correlation.

On the other hand, there is no correlation between owning three or more vehicles and having a graduate degree. The r squared value for this graph is 0.003, which is next to nothing.

Unsurprisingly, while having more education is correlated with owning vehicles, the inverse is also true. Counties with high numbers of workers who did not complete high school also are less likely to have two cars than counties with higher numbers of workers from other educational attainment groups. Similarly to the association between professionals with graduate degrees and owning cars, the correlation is weak but still significant.

While workers with graduate degrees are likely to own two cars, workers who did not complete high school are unlikely to own two cars. Similarly to the other graph, this graph has a weak correlation as well, but this time it’s negative, -0.222.

Even though professionals with a graduate degree are more likely to own two cars, they are not necessarily more likely to use them in order to get to work. Upon analyzing the correlations for each means of transportation used to get to work, graduate professionals are no more likely than any other group to use a car to get to work than other groups. Thus, although counties with many graduate professionals per capita are more likely to have two cars than counties with higher numbers of other types of professionals, these same counties are not correlated with any type of transportation to the workplace in particular.

Another factor to look at with spending habits of higher education graduates is if they tend to own more expensive homes. And indeed, there is a correlation between counties with a high percentage of homes costing between $750,000 and $999,000 and a high percentage of graduate professionals. Since the median home price in the US is around $412,000, the correlation would suggest that workers with a graduate degree at least live in counties with more expensive homes, and so are likely buying these homes. The correlation could also be explained by proximity to work– if graduate professionals are more likely to work in a city, and city homes are more expensive, it makes sense that these professionals need to spend more on housing.

There is a weak positive correlation (r squared = 0.363) between counties with a high percentage of graduate professionals and a high percentage of expensive homes.

A relationship between more cars and expensive houses is to be expected when looking at graduate workers. However, one relationship is fairly surprising. As it turns out, counties with a higher percentage of graduate students also have a lower percentage of widowed people.

Counties with more graduate workers have fewer widows and widowers. The correlation is weak but still present (r squared = -0.206).

While it’s unclear what the relationship between graduate degrees and widowed people is, there are a few plausible explanations. Perhaps since graduate students are more likely to marry other graduate students, and since blue collar jobs that do not require a graduate degree are typically more dangerous, a person with a masters degree is less likely to lose a spouse. Or perhaps people with graduate degrees are more aware of how to live a healthy lifestyle and make it a priority to eat healthy and exercise.

Either way, people with graduate degrees seem to have a lot going for them, with relationships between graduate degrees and more cars, more expensive houses, and less widowing.

With these apparent benefits of attending graduate school, then, surely interest in graduate school is increasing, right?

Data taken from Wikipedia suggests that this might not be the case. For whatever reason, page views on many subjects relating to graduate school such as “Graduate school,” “Postgraduate education,” and “Higher education” have been trending downwards. Whether this is because there is less interest in graduate school or if it is simply talked about enough so that people don’t feel the need to view the Wikipedia page is unclear.

Interestingly, however, the page views do seem to spike during political events. With the idea of forgiving student debt being thrown around by politicians, it is not surprising that the Wikipedia article “Student loans in the United States” gets more views close to elections or when big events happen.

The Wikipedia page for student loans in the United States spiked before the 2020 election. Additionally, it spiked in late 2022 when the Biden administration forgave some student loans.

Despite the lack of Wikipedia page views on topics relating to graduate school, there has been an increase of applications to graduate school, although fewer students than normal are accepted into programs.

One Wikipedia article with a huge recent spike is the page for “Educational inflation.” Educational inflation is the idea that jobs that formerly did not require a degree now do. Technology could be a factor in educational inflation. Manjari Raman, who works with Harvard Business School, thinks that’s the case. She discusses the situation of someone working for a utility company.

“Two decades ago, you were talking about somebody shimmying up a pole. You needed to be physically strong and able to work in all weather conditions, and that’s what made you successful. Now, that job is very different. You’re in a pneumatic machine. You use a smart device to connect with the central headquarters to figure out the problem. You’re still using your hands, but also a lot of data inputs coming at you through technology.”

While there weren’t many views for educational inflation before 2023, this page saw a drastic spike in recent years.

Another Wikipedia article that has recently been trending upwards is “Higher education bubble in the United States.” The idea of a bubble in this context is that although tuition costs in higher education are rising, the number of available jobs is falling. This idea could make those who have graduated from college nervous, as they are most likely to be affected. With the economic hardships many people are encountering, it is no wonder that they may be weighing the costs and benefits of higher education.

Over the past two years, the Wikipedia page “Education bubble in the United States” has seen an increasing number of views.

People most likely are not applying for graduate school solely because they will make more money; rather, the increase in applications may be due to educational inflation and the need to achieve a higher degree in order to get the same job.

Attending graduate school might be one way to fight educational inflation and the higher education bubble on an individual level. After all, if the job market is oversaturated with job applicants with an undergraduate degree, then it only makes sense that those who are able would aim to get a graduate degree in order to make themselves more competitive in the job market. While this might help individuals, in the long run, the increase in masters degrees will most likely worsen the inflation and bubble issues.

While an improved financial situation is one possible benefit of graduate school, many students may apply not for the financial benefits, but just to get a job at all in a competitive and overloaded work market. While the additional income is nice and seems to help these professionals with car ownership and home ownership, over time, it may become less of a luxury and more of a necessity.