Between 2003 and 2023, the number of students earning bachelor’s degrees from schools in the University of North Carolina (UNC) System rose from 24,536 to 40,991. This represents a 67 percent increase over twenty years.
However, trends for education majors within these institutions have not followed the same growth pattern. The number of students completing bachelor’s degrees in education increased each year from 2003 until reaching a peak in 2010. Afterward, there was a decline from 2012 through 2018 before recent data showed some recovery.
Education majors’ share among all UNC System bachelor’s degree recipients reached its highest point in 2009 at 9.9 percent but then declined steadily to reach just 4.6 percent by 2020. Because most undergraduate programs take four to six years to complete, this shift suggests that student interest began moving away from education fields as early as the mid-2000s.
The Common Follow-up System provides data that helps explain these changes and can offer guidance for workforce and educational planning in North Carolina. While this report highlights trends for education majors at UNC System schools, similar approaches could be used to analyze other academic fields across the state.
