Table 322.10.

Bachelor's degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by field of study: Selected years, 1970-71 through 2017-18

Field of study	1970-71	1975-76	1980-81	1985-86	1990-91	1995-96	2000-01	2005-06	2007-08	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
Total	839,730	925,746	935,140	987,823	1,094,538	1,164,792	1,244,171	1,485,104	1,563,734	1,649,919	1,716,053	1,792,163	1,840,381	1,870,150	1,894,969	1,920,750	1,956,114	1,980,644
Agriculture and natural resources	12,672	19,402	21,886	16,823	13,124	21,425	23,370	23,052	24,125	26,343	28,630	30,972	33,592	35,125	36,278	36,995	37,734	39,314
Architecture and related services	5,570	9,146	9,455	9,119	9,781	8,352	8,480	9,515	9,809	10,051	9,831	9,727	9,757	9,149	9,090	8,825	8,579	8,464
Area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies	2,579	3,577	2,887	3,021	4,776	5,633	6,160	7,878	8,453	8,620	8,955	9,228	8,850	8,275	7,783	7,840	7,720	7,717
Biological and biomedical sciences	35,705	54,154	43,078	38,395	39,482	61,014	60,576	70,602	79,869	86,391	89,984	95,850	100,397	104,657	109,904	113,794	116,768	118,663
Business	115,396	143,171	200,521	236,700	249,165	226,623	263,515	318,043	335,495	358,119	365,133	367,235	360,887	358,132	363,741	371,690	381,109	386,201
Communication, journalism, and related programs	10,324	20,045	29,428	41,666	51,650	47,320	58,013	73,658	76,400	81,280	83,231	83,771	84,818	87,612	90,658	92,551	93,794	92,290
Communications technologies	478	1,237	1,854	1,479	1,397	853	1,178	2,987	4,654	4,782	4,858	4,983	4,987	4,991	5,135	4,824	4,615	4,231
Computer and information sciences	2,388	5,652	15,121	42,337	25,159	24,506	44,142	47,702	38,523	39,593	43,066	47,406	50,961	55,271	59,586	64,402	71,416	79,598
Education	176,307	154,437	108,074	87,147	110,807	105,384	105,458	107,235	102,849	101,287	104,008	105,656	104,698	98,838	91,596	87,221	85,130	82,621
Engineering	45,034	38,733	63,642	77,391	62,448	62,168	58,209	66,841	68,404	72,657	76,356	81,371	85,987	92,169	97,852	106,789	115,671	121,956
Engineering technologies	5,148	7,943	11,713	19,731	17,303	15,829	14,660	14,565	15,278	16,078	16,741	17,283	17,010	16,807	17,253	17,159	18,119	18,727
English language and literature/letters	63,914	41,452	31,922	34,083	51,064	49,928	50,569	55,094	55,001	53,229	52,754	53,765	52,401	50,464	45,851	42,797	41,314	40,002
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	11,167	17,409	18,370	13,847	13,920	14,353	16,421	20,775	21,880	21,832	22,438	23,441	23,930	24,689	24,584	25,389	25,080	24,349
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics	20,988	17,068	11,638	11,550	13,937	14,832	16,128	19,393	20,976	21,507	21,705	21,756	21,647	20,332	19,493	18,436	17,643	16,958
Health professions and related programs	25,223	53,885	63,665	65,309	59,875	86,087	75,933	91,973	111,548	129,623	143,463	163,675	181,149	198,777	216,228	228,907	237,979	244,909
Homeland security, law enforcement, and    firefighting	2,045	12,507	13,707	12,704	16,806	24,810	25,211	35,319	40,297	43,613	47,600	54,091	60,264	62,416	62,723	61,159	59,553	58,114
Legal professions and studies	545	531	776	1,223	1,827	2,123	1,991	3,302	3,771	3,886	4,429	4,595	4,425	4,513	4,420	4,243	4,272	4,239
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies,    and humanities	7,481	18,855	21,643	21,336	30,526	33,997	37,962	44,898	46,882	46,963	46,717	46,961	46,790	45,281	43,649	43,669	44,103	44,262
Library science	1,013	843	375	155	90	58	52	76	68	85	96	95	102	127	99	85	99	81
Mathematics and statistics	24,801	15,984	11,078	16,122	14,393	12,713	11,171	14,760	15,169	16,029	17,182	18,841	20,449	20,987	21,854	22,778	24,075	25,256
Military technologies and applied sciences	357	952	42	255	183	7	21	33	39	56	64	86	105	185	276	358	469	655
Multi/interdisciplinary studies	6,324	13,709	12,986	13,754	17,774	26,885	26,478	30,583	34,172	37,717	42,473	45,717	47,658	48,392	47,556	48,833	49,631	51,909
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies	1,621	5,182	5,729	4,623	4,315	12,974	17,948	25,489	29,908	33,332	35,934	38,998	42,628	46,047	49,008	50,912	53,292	53,883
Philosophy and religious studies	8,149	8,447	6,776	6,396	7,423	7,541	8,717	11,980	12,259	12,503	12,830	12,645	12,792	11,999	11,071	10,155	9,711	9,603
Physical sciences and science technologies	21,410	21,458	23,936	21,711	16,334	19,716	18,025	20,521	22,164	23,381	24,705	26,664	28,053	29,307	30,042	30,483	31,272	31,542
Precision production	0	0	0	2	2	12	31	55	33	29	43	37	36	37	48	51	32	45
Psychology	38,187	50,278	41,068	40,628	58,655	73,416	73,645	88,132	92,562	97,215	100,906	109,099	114,446	117,312	117,573	117,447	116,859	116,432
Public administration and social services	5,466	15,440	16,707	11,887	14,350	19,849	19,447	21,986	23,523	25,421	26,799	29,695	31,950	33,483	34,364	34,433	35,461	35,629
Social sciences and history	155,324	126,396	100,513	93,840	125,107	126,479	128,036	161,468	167,321	172,782	177,169	178,534	177,767	173,132	166,971	161,211	159,097	159,967
Theology and religious vocations	3,720	5,490	5,808	5,510	4,799	5,292	6,945	8,548	8,992	8,719	9,073	9,304	9,385	9,642	9,713	9,804	9,518	9,521
Transportation and materials moving	0	225	263	1,838	2,622	3,561	3,748	5,349	5,202	4,998	4,941	4,876	4,661	4,588	4,730	4,531	4,708	4,924
Visual and performing arts	30,394	42,138	40,479	37,241	42,186	49,296	61,148	83,292	87,731	91,798	93,939	95,806	97,799	97,414	95,840	92,979	91,291	88,582
Not classified by field of study	0	0	0	0	13,258	1,756	783	0	377	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

NOTE: Data are for postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV federal financial aid programs. The new Classification of Instructional Programs was initiated in 2009-10. The figures for earlier years have been reclassified when necessary to make them conform to the new taxonomy. 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; "Business" includes Business, management, marketing, and related support services and Personal and culinary services; and "Engineering technologies" includes Engineering technologies and engineering-related fields, Construction trades, and Mechanic and repair technologies/technicians. Some data have been revised from previously published figures.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred" surveys, 1970-71 through 1985-86; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Completions Survey" (IPEDS-C:91-99); and IPEDS Fall 2000 through Fall 2018, Completions component. (This table was prepared November 2019.)