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Digest of Education Statistics
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Table 318.50. Degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by control of institution, level of degree, and field of study: 2015-16
Field of study All institutions Public institutions Private nonprofit institutions Private for-profit institutions
Asso- ciate's degrees Bachelor's degrees Master's degrees Doctor's de-grees1 Asso- ciate's degrees Bachelor's degrees Master's degrees Doctor's de-grees1 Asso- ciate's degrees Bache- lor's degrees Master's degrees Doctor's de-grees1 Asso- ciate's degrees Bache- lor's degrees Master's degrees Doctor's de- grees1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
All fields, total 1,008,314 1,920,718 785,595 177,867 848,168 1,240,405 364,526 89,786 56,593 560,752 350,721 80,044 103,553 119,561 70,348 8,037
Agriculture and natural resources 7,858 37,005 6,681 1,508 7,491 30,826 5,292 1,418 366 5,408 1,269 90 1 771 120 0
Architecture and related services 478 8,823 7,986 236 448 6,135 4,860 178 30 2,602 3,029 58 0 86 97 0
Area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies 419 7,840 1,766 316 401 5,235 1,009 197 18 2,605 757 119 0 0 0 0
Biological and biomedical sciences 5,266 113,749 15,714 7,914 5,160 78,064 9,061 5,216 95 35,495 6,653 2,698 11 190 0 0
Business 128,249 371,694 186,834 3,323 93,080 219,396 68,184 1,096 11,118 113,976 92,380 808 24,051 38,322 26,270 1,419
                                 
Communication, journalism, and related programs 6,759 92,554 9,676 629 6,554 66,728 3,995 533 111 24,924 5,375 96 94 902 306 0
Communications technologies 4,569 4,824 491 4 3,312 1,440 37 0 104 1,607 319 4 1,153 1,777 135 0
Computer and information sciences 30,569 64,405 40,128 1,979 23,242 38,951 22,417 1,278 1,733 16,544 15,214 603 5,594 8,910 2,497 98
Construction trades 4,699 225 0 0 3,876 225 0 0 172 0 0 0 651 0 0 0
Education 17,029 87,217 145,781 11,829 15,006 60,055 71,341 6,123 665 23,683 63,372 4,192 1,358 3,479 11,068 1,514
                                 
Engineering 5,285 106,850 51,621 10,209 5,168 83,463 34,514 7,405 26 23,223 16,980 2,804 91 164 127 0
Engineering technologies and engineering-
    related fields2
27,241 16,548 6,064 133 23,423 13,110 3,494 97 1,137 1,809 2,132 36 2,681 1,629 438 0
English language and literature/letters 2,551 42,795 8,577 1,392 2,402 29,185 5,132 1,028 10 12,836 3,337 364 139 774 108 0
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences 8,930 25,389 3,228 374 8,327 20,445 2,098 295 353 4,362 880 44 250 582 250 35
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics 2,208 18,427 3,405 1,265 2,189 13,245 2,367 827 19 5,136 1,038 438 0 46 0 0
                                 
Health professions and related programs 191,460 228,896 110,348 73,682 126,617 126,288 44,733 36,482 20,020 71,960 48,921 35,051 44,823 30,648 16,694 2,149
Homeland security, law enforcement, and
    firefighting
39,927 61,157 9,756 205 31,378 36,588 3,872 120 2,066 14,365 3,662 18 6,483 10,204 2,222 67
Legal professions and studies 8,017 4,243 8,178 37,030 5,433 2,223 2,150 13,330 696 1,380 5,851 22,552 1,888 640 177 1,148
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies,
    and humanities
381,197 43,661 2,599 105 369,141 30,648 1,231 46 10,325 12,741 1,314 34 1,731 272 54 25
Library science 146 85 4,926 54 146 54 4,095 50 0 1 831 4 0 30 0 0
                                 
Mathematics and statistics 3,029 22,777 8,446 1,850 3,013 15,431 5,370 1,344 16 7,333 3,076 506 0 13 0 0
Mechanic and repair technologies/technicians 20,578 386 0 0 14,232 208 0 0 2,332 175 0 0 4,014 3 0 0
Military technologies and applied sciences 1,047 358 152 0 1,008 133 37 0 0 181 115 0 39 44 0 0
Multi/interdisciplinary studies 30,484 48,794 8,571 849 28,690 33,036 4,377 581 575 11,694 3,678 268 1,219 4,064 516 0
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies 4,771 50,918 8,244 331 3,746 37,667 5,500 290 269 12,588 2,542 38 756 663 202 3
                                 
Philosophy and religious studies 814 10,157 1,756 746 225 4,423 589 295 589 5,692 1,167 450 0 42 0 1
Physical sciences and science technologies 8,485 30,477 7,122 6,016 8,419 21,711 5,447 4,250 65 8,763 1,675 1,766 1 3 0 0
Precision production 4,840 50 10 0 4,363 0 0 0 147 50 10 0 330 0 0 0
Psychology 10,603 117,440 27,645 6,532 9,941 79,952 9,226 2,441 412 34,676 14,603 2,762 250 2,812 3,816 1,329
Public administration and social services 7,988 34,432 46,751 1,065 5,972 22,464 26,162 562 570 9,301 18,273 274 1,446 2,667 2,316 229
                                 
Social sciences and history 20,056 161,230 19,828 4,667 19,934 111,281 10,429 3,056 81 48,911 8,645 1,599 41 1,038 754 12
Social sciences 18,451 135,633 16,373 3,696 18,379 93,796 8,118 2,411 64 41,096 7,825 1,273 8 741 430 12
History 1,605 25,597 3,455 971 1,555 17,485 2,311 645 17 7,815 820 326 33 297 324 0
Theology and religious vocations 1,089 9,804 14,352 1,808 2 1 0 0 1,078 9,549 14,159 1,802 9 254 193 6
Transportation and materials moving 1,497 4,529 911 8 1,136 2,501 126 1 331 2,027 784 7 30 1 1 0
Visual and performing arts 20,176 92,979 18,048 1,808 14,693 49,293 7,381 1,247 1,064 35,155 8,680 559 4,419 8,531 1,987 2
1 Includes Ph.D., Ed.D., and comparable degrees at the doctoral level, as well as such degrees as M.D., D.D.S., and law degrees that were formerly classified as first-professional degrees.
2 Excludes "Construction trades" and "Mechanic and repair technologies/technicians," which are listed separately.
NOTE: Data are for degree-granting postsecondary institutions, which are institutions that grant associate's or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. To facilitate trend comparisons, certain aggregations have been made of the degree fields as reported in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS): "Agriculture and natural resources" includes Agriculture, agriculture operations, and related sciences and Natural resources and conservation; and "Business" includes Business, management, marketing, and related support services and Personal and culinary services.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall 2016, Completions component. (This table was prepared March 2018.)

2017 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest