Undergraduate Degree Earners
Academic Year 2024-25
April 16, 2026
The Undergraduate Degree Earners Report provides a demographic and education credential profile for all students who graduate with an undergraduate-level credential, encompassing undergraduate certificates and associate and bachelor’s degrees. In this report, we profile students who earned undergraduate credentials during the most recent academic year (2024-25), focusing on first-time completers versus those with a prior award. We also examine change over time in student demographics (gender, age, race/ethnicity), major field, and credentials attained (certificates, and associate and bachelor’s degrees) since the 2015-16 academic year. The report presents trend data nationally, as well as by state and region. All data prior to the 2024-25 academic year reflect any newer and additional data that participating institutions have reported to the Clearinghouse since last year’s publication.
The report is presented as an interactive data dashboard. Additional information can be found in a downloadable data appendix.
Highlights
-
In the 2024-25 academic year, more than 3.4 million learners earned undergraduate credentials (+3.2 percent compared to 2023-24). About 2 million of them earned a bachelor’s degree as their highest award, while 865,400 earned an associate degree. The 579,400 completers who earned an undergraduate certificate represent a decade high for the number of people earning this type of credential as their highest award.
-
Over the past decade, learners earning their first credential have represented around three-quarters of all undergraduate credential earners each year. However, there are notable differences across award types and student characteristics. Among bachelor’s degree completers, larger shares (more than one-third in 2024-25) of Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander credential earners hold a prior award compared to fewer than 30 percent of their White, Multiracial, and Asian peers.
-
Students are increasingly completing undergraduate credentials at younger ages. For the first time, in 2024-25, learners between the ages of 18 and 20 represented the largest share (32.6%) of all first-time associate degree earners, surpassing those aged 21 to 24. At the same time, more learners under 18 (likely dual enrolled high school students) are earning postsecondary credentials. In 2024-25, 52,500 learners under 18 earned undergraduate certificates and associate degrees, nearly four times the number for this age group a decade ago.
-
The number of bachelor’s degree earners increased across all race/ethnicity groups in 2024-25. Annual growth ranged from 0.3 percent for International bachelor’s degree completers to 5.8 percent for Black bachelor’s degree earners.
-
The 419,800 students in 2024-25 who earned a bachelor’s degree while already holding an associate degree—the most common prior-to-current award pathway—represented the first notable growth in this population (+1.0%) in four years. However, this annual growth is still well below the growth for this pathway seen in the period 2016-17 through 2020-21.
-
The 210,100 learners awarded credentials in Computer Science in 2024-25 represented increases for all award types and capped a strong decade of growth in students earning undergraduate Computer Science credentials (+85.5%).
-
All regions of the country saw increases in the number of undergraduate credential earners in 2024-25, with the Northeast posting its first growth in eight years, while the South and West surpassed their 2020-21 peak levels.
Navigate using the tabs at the top of the dashboard to see details for demographics, prior awards, major fields, states and regions, and a special analysis.
This report was created with the support of Lumina Foundation.
Have suggestions for new analyses related to this publication?
Looking for insights beyond our research reports?
Work directly with our team to design research that answers your organization’s specific questions, with the depth, rigor, and data authority the National Student Clearinghouse is known for.