As graduate degree holders with backgrounds and careers involving research, we know many of you enjoy data. Data tell us the face of the graduate student is changing.
Long gone are the days of students completing a four-year degree and then going right into a graduate program. Now it is more common for a student to earn an undergraduate degree (with many taking less than four years), head into the workforce, and then return to school to advance their education.
This holds true at Kansas State University.
A look at our enrollment over the last five years shows just how much the demographics of today’s graduate student population has changed.
Since 2018, we have seen a seven percent increase in our overall graduate enrollment, bringing it up to 4,196 students for the 2021-22 academic year.
Of those, 2,477, or 59 percent, are women, compared to 56 percent five years ago. It is also more common now for graduate students to have gone out and experienced life after earning an undergraduate degree. Last year alone, 74 percent of the Graduate School enrollment was aged 25 and older, 20 percent of which were over the age of 40.
K-State is also expanding its reach as 49 percent of last year’s graduate students came from states outside of Kansas and 16 percent came from a country other than the U.S. In total, graduate students originated from 100 Kansas counties, all 50 U.S. states, and 74 other countries, with India and China both having over 100 students enrolled.
Summary of the May 2023 graduating class:
- 531 masters and 95 doctoral graduates
- 63% identified as female and 37% as male
- 47% were from Kansas
- 8% were international students
- 29 master’s and 2 doctoral graduates self-report as active-duty service members or veterans
- The youngest master’s graduate was 21 and the oldest was 62
- The youngest doctoral graduate was 26 and the oldest was 64
Continuing trends
We continue to see these trends in our incoming students for the new academic year. Last week, we hosted a welcome and orientation session for new graduate students. One student in attendance shared that he is pursuing a graduate degree at the age of 70, showing us that there is no age limit to advancing your knowledge!