New 2025 Master's Market Update by Eduventures® Empowers Colleges and Universities to Embrace Master's Degree Outcomes in Program Planning and Marketing
New Research Reveals How Colleges and Universities Can Leverage Publicly Available Outcomes Data to Strengthen Program Offerings and Messaging to Effectively Enroll Today's Prospective Master's Students.
BOSTON, Oct. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Encoura®, an industry-leading educational technology and research organization, announced today the recent publication of the fourth annual Eduventures Master's Market Update. Designed to track master's program market developments over time, this series of reports provides colleges and universities with the most up-to-date view on key market trends to inform programmatic strategy and decision-making. Given the current graduate education climate, however, the 2025 iteration turns from its typical focus on degree conferrals and enrollments, to shed light on today's most discussed topic: the earnings trajectory for graduates upon master's degree completion.
As the high school enrollment cliff will soon hit the graduate market, softening demand and increasing competition, it will become increasingly important for colleges and universities to use this outcomes data to inform program planning. How can schools select the right programs to offer? And with the challenges that come with tracking alumni success post-graduation, how can schools tell outcomes stories for their programs?
With earnings ranked as the top motivation for adults pursuing grad school — 64% of master's prospects expect to earn more money — this year's Master's Market Update details outcomes for the overall market and by specific fields that institutions should monitor and promote to most effectively enroll prospective students.
Key research insights include:
- Median Earnings: Median master's degree earnings grow from almost $68,000 after one year post-completion to almost $82,000 after five years—growth of 21% and just over $14,000.
- Certificate Comparison: Master's completer monetary growth ($14,000) is well above the shorter and less expensive for-credit, non-degree offerings that have become increasingly popular with prospective graduate students: graduate certificate earnings growth is $8,901 and post-baccalaureate certificate earnings growth is $7,848.
- Differences by Field: Master's graduates from engineering ($100,500), health ($92,589), and computer and information sciences ($91,267) programs report the highest salaries one year after completion, while graduates of visual/performing arts ($41,231), history ($44,227), and parks and recreation/fitness ($44,472) programs report the lowest salaries one year after degree completion.
- Market Growth: The total master's market saw degree conferrals grow by 24% between 2014-2023. Fields that lead to five-year earnings above the overall master's benchmark grew by 40% while fields that lead to five-year earnings below the overall master's benchmark grew by only 4%.
- Market Scale: The total master's market saw master's degree conferrals grow by 181,452 completions over the 2014-2023 window. The higher earning fields captured 92% of master's growth over the last decade.
- Market Share: Growth and scale indicators foreshadow increased clustering in those higher earning fields of study. Fields that lead to five-year earnings above the overall master's benchmark claimed 62% of all master's degree conferrals in 2023.
"Graduate education is entering a new era, one defined by financial constraints and heightened accountability. The end of Grad PLUS loans and the introduction of the 'earnings premium' rule fundamentally shift how institutions must think about program value and sustainability," said Chris Gardiner, Eduventures Senior Analyst and primary author of this study. "Schools that once relied on graduate programs as steady revenue sources will need to become far more intentional about portfolio strategy, focusing on where they can truly deliver strong outcomes and meet evolving market and policy expectations."
Eduventures' latest Master's Market Update helps higher education leaders understand the master's degree earnings landscape, informing program planning, prioritization, and positioning conversations. As prospective graduate students and policymakers become increasingly focused on earnings, this report provides actionable takeaways on how institutions can use earnings data to support ROI messaging around the master's degree and better position individual master's degree programs.
The full report is available to Eduventures partners in the Encoura Platform, with the infographic summary available to the public here.
About Encoura
Encoura is an educational data science and research organization serving over 2,000 member institutions comprising public and private colleges and universities across the nation. Since 1972, Encoura has been a leading provider of data science, technology, and programs serving students, high school educators, colleges, and universities with offices in Austin, TX and Boston, MA. These solutions represent the link between students making important life decisions and those providing the resources and information students need to succeed in their postsecondary educations and careers. For more information, visit https://encoura.org.
About Eduventures
Eduventures Research–the research division of Encoura–provides higher education leaders' primary research, analysis, and advisory services to support decisionmaking throughout the student life cycle. Building on over 30 years of success in working with education leaders, Eduventures provides forward-looking and actionable research based on proprietary market data and advisory services that support both strategic and operational decision-making. Research and insights from Eduventures is available in the Encoura Platform. More information on Encoura and Eduventures can be found at encoura.org/eduventures.
Members of the media who would like to speak to the author of this report or obtain a copy of the report can contact Todd Boullion at toddb@encoura.org.
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