Associate’s Degrees in the Humanities
- In 2015, the nation’s colleges conferred 363,491 associate’s degrees in the humanities, the highest level on record (most of these degrees were in “liberal arts” and “liberal studies”). The number of associate’s degrees conferred in humanities disciplines increased almost every year from 1987 to 2015, rising by an average of 4.3% per year (Indicator II-01a).
- Traditionally, the largest number of associate’s degrees have been awarded in vocational and professional fields, however growth in these fields was less than in the humanities for most years of the 1987–2010 time period. (Degree conferrals in the professional fields were dominated by degrees in business and professions related to law and criminal justice.) The number of degrees in vocational and professional fields then fell after 2011, declining until 2015, when there was a slight uptick in completions. The 288,501 degrees awarded in this category in 2015 was the lowest level since 2009. As a result of these trends, in 2012, more associate’s degrees were awarded in the humanities than in the vocational and professional fields for the first time.
- Associate’s degree conferrals in the health/medical and natural sciences declined slightly in recent years, from a high of 192,757 degrees in 2012 to 183,457 in 2015. The largest numerical drop in this category occurred among students earning nursing degrees (down 5,431), which account for more than a third of the degrees in this category.
- As a share of all associate’s degrees, degrees conferred in subjects with a substantial amount of training in the humanities rose from 25.7% in 1987 to 41.8% in 2015 (Indicator II-01b). In comparison, over the same period the share of all associate’s degrees awarded in vocational and professional fields fell from 55.9% to 33.2%.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Integrated Postsecondary Data System; data accessed via the National Science Foundation’s online data system, WebCASPAR. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).
Unlike the humanities degrees conferred at the baccalaureate level, almost all of the degrees counted here were classified by the conferring institution as being in “liberal arts” and “liberal studies” rather than specific humanities disciplines. For instance, of the 363,491 degrees tabulated as humanities for 2015, only 10,382 were conferred in a specific discipline (such as English or history). Since associate’s degrees are generally conferred with half the number of credits required for a typical bachelor’s degree program, students are less likely to specialize in a specific subject area. Nevertheless, the number and share of humanities degrees conferred in a specific discipline has been growing. In 2006, 4,002 humanities associate’s degrees, or 1.6%, were conferred in a discipline. The share was 2.9% of humanities degrees in 2015. For the specific degree programs grouped under each academic field heading, see the Degree Program Code Catalog.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Integrated Postsecondary Data System; data accessed via the National Science Foundation’s online data system, WebCASPAR. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).
Unlike the humanities degrees conferred at the baccalaureate level, almost all of the degrees counted here were classified by the conferring institution as being in “liberal arts” and “liberal studies” rather than specific humanities disciplines. For instance, of the 363,491 degrees tabulated as humanities for 2015, only 10,382 were conferred in a specific discipline (such as English or history). Since associate’s degrees are generally conferred with half the number of credits required for a typical bachelor’s degree program, students are less likely to specialize in a specific subject area. Nevertheless, the number and share of humanities degrees conferred in a specific discipline has been growing. In 2006, 4,002 humanities associate’s degrees, or 1.6%, were conferred in a discipline. The share was 2.9% of humanities degrees in 2015. For the specific degree programs grouped under each academic field heading, see the Degree Program Code Catalog.
