Table 318.50.

Degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by control of institution, level of degree, and field of study: Academic year 2020-21

Field of study	All institutions				Public institutions				Private nonprofit institutions				Private for-profit institutions
	Associate's degrees	Bachelor's degrees	Master's degrees	Doctor's degrees1	Associate's degrees	Bachelor's degrees	Master's degrees	Doctor's degrees1	Associate's degrees	Bachelor's degrees	Master's degrees	Doctor's degrees1	Associate's degrees	Bachelor's degrees	Master's degrees	Doctor's degrees1
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
All fields, total	1,036,431	2,066,445	866,894	194,059	918,657	1,385,237	405,209	95,816	50,880	579,167	391,235	89,133	66,894	102,041	70,450	9,110
Agriculture and natural resources	11,847	41,925	7,404	4,869	9,604	35,055	5,620	4,063	445	6,263	1,673	806	1,798	607	111	0
Architecture and related services	615	9,296	6,321	255	564	6,912	3,932	185	51	2,331	2,362	70	0	53	27	0
Area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies	936	7,374	1,446	268	936	5,162	872	168	0	2,212	574	100	0	0	0	0
Biological and biomedical sciences	9,208	131,499	19,433	7,486	9,000	94,234	10,111	4,915	201	36,974	9,234	2,571	7	291	88	0
Business	116,086	391,375	202,334	3,711	95,901	247,218	84,936	1,024	7,152	114,193	96,249	1,708	13,033	29,964	21,149	979
Communication, journalism, and related programs	8,993	90,775	10,805	532	8,826	67,055	4,884	408	60	22,797	5,624	124	107	923	297	0
Communications technologies	3,909	4,557	517	0	3,265	1,578	49	0	89	1,972	357	0	555	1,007	111	0
Computer and information sciences and support services	34,164	104,874	54,174	2,572	29,621	71,191	27,221	1,618	1,325	27,747	24,716	759	3,218	5,936	2,237	195
Construction trades	5,980	221	0	0	5,105	199	0	0	227	22	0	0	648	0	0	0
Education	18,144	89,398	153,756	13,655	16,878	60,602	76,291	6,271	573	25,119	65,746	6,095	693	3,677	11,719	1,289
Engineering	6,316	126,037	47,257	10,890	6,201	101,884	30,314	8,164	60	23,913	16,909	2,726	55	240	34	0
Engineering technologies and engineering-related fields2	22,658	18,562	6,348	203	20,277	15,090	3,430	98	1,077	2,084	2,347	105	1,304	1,388	571	0
English language and literature/letters	3,601	35,762	7,850	1,079	3,537	24,483	4,496	816	17	10,694	3,224	263	47	585	130	0
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	9,773	22,319	3,137	233	9,303	18,447	2,091	195	138	3,442	1,007	27	332	430	39	11
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics	2,876	15,518	2,884	985	2,874	11,444	1,995	651	2	4,045	889	334	0	29	0	0
Health professions and related programs	181,046	268,018	142,025	85,581	129,443	145,128	54,030	39,547	20,645	85,462	64,707	41,266	30,958	37,428	23,288	4,768
Homeland security, law enforcement, and firefighting	35,009	58,009	11,326	239	30,808	37,899	4,766	104	1,241	13,526	4,895	22	2,960	6,584	1,665	113
Legal professions and studies	5,806	4,589	7,038	35,976	4,703	2,849	2,370	13,984	332	1,490	4,585	21,512	771	250	83	480
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities	400,447	41,909	2,044	90	389,287	30,057	1,092	36	9,258	11,692	913	47	1,902	160	39	7
Library science	171	119	5,473	12	171	80	4,673	7	0	0	800	5	0	39	0	0
Mathematics and statistics	4,842	27,092	12,583	1,958	4,830	19,021	6,940	1,451	12	8,035	5,643	507	0	36	0	0
Mechanic and repair technologies/technicians	20,110	221	27	2	13,520	97	2	2	1,821	124	25	0	4,769	0	0	0
Military technologies and applied sciences	1,106	1,524	958	0	1,069	464	57	0	1	545	658	0	36	515	243	0
Multi/interdisciplinary studies	32,915	54,584	12,365	1,055	32,100	40,817	6,769	702	513	12,536	5,338	353	302	1,231	258	0
Parks, recreation, leisure, fitness, and kinesiology	5,956	54,294	9,880	326	5,436	40,392	6,165	248	141	13,051	3,517	75	379	851	198	3
Philosophy and religious studies	1,616	11,988	2,073	627	446	4,644	522	234	1,170	7,283	1,551	393	0	61	0	0
Physical sciences and science technologies	10,194	29,238	6,778	5,709	10,143	21,303	4,911	4,069	51	7,933	1,867	1,640	0	2	0	0
Precision production	4,836	28	8	0	4,423	2	0	0	123	26	8	0	290	0	0	0
Psychology	18,787	126,944	31,776	6,363	18,402	90,361	9,631	2,394	357	34,653	17,976	3,139	28	1,930	4,169	830
Public administration and social services	6,761	34,817	49,388	1,435	5,125	23,252	29,537	609	1,288	9,056	17,368	476	348	2,509	2,483	350
Social sciences and history	28,822	160,827	19,845	4,160	28,654	113,049	10,247	2,640	130	47,007	9,325	1,459	38	771	273	61
Social sciences	26,265	137,908	16,363	3,468	26,213	97,443	8,142	2,185	52	39,992	8,125	1,222	0	473	96	61
History	2,557	22,919	3,482	692	2,441	15,606	2,105	455	78	7,015	1,200	237	38	298	177	0
Theology and religious vocations	982	6,737	13,228	2,100	1	1	0	0	981	6,464	13,055	2,077	0	272	173	23
Transportation and materials moving	1,999	5,993	670	20	1,356	3,104	165	4	562	2,853	503	16	81	36	2	0
Visual and performing arts	19,920	90,022	15,743	1,668	16,848	52,163	7,090	1,209	837	33,623	7,590	458	2,235	4,236	1,063	1

1Includes 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 classified as first-professional degrees prior to 2010-11.

2Excludes "Construction trades" and "Mechanic and repair technologies/technicians," which are listed separately.

NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. 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 Agricultural, animal, plant, veterinary science, and related fields and Natural resources and conservation; and "Business" includes Business, management, marketing, and related support services and Culinary, entertainment, and personal services.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall 2021, Completions component. (This table was prepared October 2022.)