Approximately 34% of Americans 18 years of age and older
hold college degrees according to the United States Census Bureau report of
2007. More women than men hold college degrees of all types combined.
About 33.8% of American men have a college degree, as compared to about
34.8% of American women. The differences between the sexes when it comes to the
type of degree
attained are very small, and in most cases are under half of a
percentage point.
Nineteen percent of Americans have attended college but have no degree. The
reasons for this are varied. Some of the people are still in college, and plan
to have a degree within one to four years. Others started college but for a
variety of reasons stopped going, and may or may not plan on returning. Still
other people in this category may have taken one or two classes at a university
or college and were not planning to attain a degree. This number does not
include those who attained certification in vocational programs.
Eight percent of Americans have attained an Associate’s
Degree. Slightly more than half of them have an occupational degree, and
slightly less than half attained an academic degree. These degrees include both
Associates of Arts Degrees and Associate of Sciences Degrees. Seventeen percentage of people in
America have earned Bachelor’s Degrees. Again, this number includes Bachelor of
Arts as well as Bachelor of Sciences Degrees.
About 8.5% of the population has a post graduate degree. The vast majority of
them (about 6% of the population), has earned a Master’s Degree. The rest are
about evenly split between Professional Degrees (1.4% of the population) and
Doctoral Degrees (1.1% of the population).
The percentage of people with degrees differs depending on the location of
the people in question. The Boulder, Colorado area has the highest percentage of
college graduates, and the Merced, California area, the lowest.
Each year, the number as well as the percentage of Americans with college
degrees has increased. For example, in 1990, only 13.1 percent of Americans had
Bachelor’s Degrees, and in 2000, the number had risen to 15.5%. It is projected
that the numbers will continue to rise.
The good news for Americans is that as the number of
more educated people rises, salaries tend to rise as well. In general, the
earning potential for those with college degrees is nearly double that of high
school
graduates. The
unemployment rates for college educated Americans is less than half the
unemployment rates for people who do not have a high school diploma. People who
hold degrees are more likely to have health insurance than those who do not.
On the other hand, some studies have suggested that
grade inflation at colleges is a contributor to the high numbers of college
graduates, and that holding a college degree may not mean that a person is a
better worker, or will hold a better job than someone without a degree. There are also many career opportunities
that have opened up in the past decade that create high paying positions for
those without degrees. Also, there are some careers that now require more
advanced degrees than were required a decade ago.
With over half of Americans having some college under their belts and over
one third holding at least an Associate’s Degree, there is a lot of competition
in today’s workforce. As the percentage of Americans with degrees rises, the
demand for highly educated workers will also rise.
COPYRIGHT
All content included on this site, such as text, graphics,
logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads, data compilations,
and software is the property of this site's owner or its content suppliers and
protected by United States and international copyright laws. The compilation of
all content on this site is the exclusive property of this site's owner and
protected by U.S. and international copyright laws.