Business school statistics show a large and changing field. U.S. institutions awarded 391,375 business bachelor’s degrees, 202,334 master’s degrees, and 3,711 doctor’s degrees in 2020-21, according to NCES Table 325.25. Recent AACSB and GMAC measures add a more detailed picture of how schools are funded, how students enroll, what they value, and what employers expect.
Contents
- Long-term growth in business degrees
- Business school finances
- Applications, offers, and new entrants
- International enrollment and program format
- What students want from graduate management education
- AI, inclusion, and sustainability
- Employer demand and career outlook
Long-term growth in business degrees
NCES Table 325.25 records a substantial expansion in business degree awards across the United States. The figures below count degrees conferred by U.S. postsecondary institutions in the named academic years.
| Academic year | Bachelor’s | Master’s | Doctor’s |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955-56 | 42,813 | 3,280 | 129 |
| 1970-71 | 114,729 | 25,977 | 757 |
| 1980-81 | 198,983 | 57,391 | 795 |
| 1990-91 | 249,165 | 78,255 | 1,185 |
| 2000-01 | 263,515 | 115,602 | 1,180 |
| 2010-11 | 365,133 | 187,178 | 2,286 |
| 2015-16 | 371,690 | 186,835 | 3,325 |
| 2020-21 | 391,375 | 202,334 | 3,711 |
The bachelor’s total rose from 42,813 in 1955-56 to 114,729 in 1970-71, then to 198,983 in 1980-81. It reached 249,165 in 1990-91 and 263,515 in 2000-01. The next decade brought a larger increase, to 365,133 in 2010-11. Awards were 371,690 in 2015-16 and 391,375 in 2020-21.
Graduate awards also expanded. Business master’s degrees increased from 3,280 in 1955-56 to 25,977 in 1970-71 and 57,391 in 1980-81. The total reached 78,255 in 1990-91, 115,602 in 2000-01, and 187,178 in 2010-11. It was 186,835 in 2015-16 before reaching 202,334 in 2020-21.
Doctoral awards were much smaller but rose over the same series: 129 in 1955-56, 757 in 1970-71, 795 in 1980-81, and 1,185 in 1990-91. NCES recorded 1,180 business doctor’s degrees in 2000-01, 2,286 in 2010-11, 3,325 in 2015-16, and 3,711 in 2020-21. These historical figures describe awards in specific academic years; they do not by themselves measure current enrollment or future degree production.
Business school finances
AACSB’s Business School Finances and Tuition Trends: 2026 describes the 2024-25 sample of AACSB-accredited schools. Tuition and fees accounted for 67 percent of operating funds on average. Median operating funds grew 13 percent over five years, while median expenditures grew 11 percent. The median operating budget was about $20 million over the past five years.
School size was associated with large budget differences. Large AACSB-accredited schools reported median operating funds three and a half times those of medium-sized schools and nearly seven times those of small schools. Large schools also posted 13 percent five-year median growth in operating funds. In the same report, nearly three-quarters of standard academic-unit schools reported a positive net flow of funds to their parent institutions.
Regional figures show another dimension of variation. Median operating funds reached $78 million in EMEA, $24 million in the Americas, and $14 million in Asia Pacific. Independent AACSB-accredited business schools reported median budgets of about $57 million in 2024-25, while the upper end of their operating budgets was roughly $356 million.
Financial structure remains a leadership concern. More than 75 percent of business school leaders cited financial models as a top concern in the AACSB report AACSB Report Reveals Key Shifts Shaping Business Education. Together, these measures indicate that business schools operate across very different budget scales, funding mixes, and institutional relationships.
Applications, offers, and new entrants
AACSB’s Enrollment Trends at AACSB Business Schools: 2025 reports growth in several parts of the admissions funnel over five years. Undergraduate applications rose 38 percent, and undergraduate offers rose 30 percent. Undergraduate new entrants increased 10 percent. At the master’s level, applications rose 25 percent and new entrants rose 6 percent.
The relationship between applications and entrants matters for interpreting these figures. A 38 percent increase in undergraduate applications and a 30 percent increase in offers occurred alongside a 10 percent increase in undergraduate new entrants. For master’s programs, a 25 percent increase in applications accompanied a 6 percent increase in new entrants. The statistics describe changes across the AACSB data set over five years, not a single school or a universal result for every program.
International participation is also part of the enrollment picture. International students made up about 13 percent of undergraduate students globally at AACSB schools, and international undergraduate enrollment increased about 3 percent over five years. EMEA recorded a larger 25 percent increase in international undergraduate enrollment. Across AACSB schools, 44 percent reported growth in international undergraduate counts, 48 percent reported declines, and 9 percent reported stability.
International enrollment and program format
The master’s population had a higher international share than the undergraduate population. International students represented 36 percent of all enrolled master’s students, up from 30 percent five years earlier. International master’s enrollment increased 25 percent over five years at AACSB schools, and nearly three-quarters of international master’s students were enrolled in specialist programs.
MBA enrollment moved differently. The AACSB data set recorded a 6 percent decline in MBA enrollment over five years. About 60 percent of MBA students were in part-time or flexible formats, while fully online MBA enrollment rose from 30 percent to 38 percent over the same period. Full face-to-face MBA enrollment fell to 46 percent.
Undergraduate study was more concentrated in full-time enrollment: about 90 percent of undergraduate business students were enrolled full time. The contrast between undergraduate full-time study and the more flexible MBA mix helps distinguish the populations behind broad business school enrollment statistics.
What students want from graduate management education
The GMAC Prospective Students Survey 2024 – Summary Report found that the two-year MBA recaptured the top preferred degree spot from the one-year MBA. Candidates also identified strategy and business analytics as the most desired curricular components. Problem-solving and data analysis and interpretation were the top skills candidates expected to learn from graduate management education.
These preferences connect program choice with practical capability. Strategy was one of the most desired curriculum components, while data analysis and interpretation ranked among the leading expected skills. Business analytics appeared among the most desired curricular components, and problem-solving was among the top expected skills. The survey results describe prospective students’ stated preferences, rather than completed coursework or employment outcomes.
Sustainability was another prominent consideration. Sixty-eight percent of prospective students said sustainability was important or very important, according to the Sustainability and Business School Infographic. This provides a quantified measure of sustainability’s relevance to prospective students in that source’s survey population.
AI, inclusion, and sustainability
Technology adoption is already widespread in graduate management education. Only 22 percent of GME programs said they had not integrated AI into their learning experiences, according to the GMAC Application Trends Survey – 2024 Summary Report. This means the survey’s large majority reported some level of AI integration, although the statistic does not specify the depth or type of integration.
Gender-related application trends were also positive in the GMAC survey. More than half of graduate management programs reported growth in applications from women. Among Flex MBA programs, 70 percent reported growth in female applications. In addition, 41 percent of programs reported conducting special events for women, according to IWD: Surge in women’s interest for business education degrees.
The measures should be read as separate indicators. Growth in applications from women does not equal growth in enrollment, and special events do not quantify their effect on admission or completion. Similarly, AI integration does not identify a common implementation model across programs. The figures are useful because they place attention on participation, program design, and changing expectations without treating those outcomes as interchangeable.
Employer demand and career outlook
GMAC’s Corporate Recruiters Survey – 2024 Report was based on responses from nearly 1,000 corporate recruiters and staffing firms. Nearly three-quarters of employers said inflation and recession fears had a major or moderate influence on hiring decisions. At the same time, more than a quarter of employers planned to expand hiring of GME graduates in 2024.
The employer measures show both caution and demand in the 2024 survey. Economic conditions influenced hiring decisions for nearly three-quarters of respondents, while more than one-quarter planned to increase hiring of graduate management education graduates. The survey reflects employer plans for 2024; it is not a count of realized hires.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a broader occupational context. Business and financial occupations are projected to generate about 942,500 openings each year from 2024 to 2034. The median annual wage for those occupations was $80,920 in May 2024. BLS projects these occupations to grow faster than the average for all occupations from 2024 to 2034.
Specific occupations show how the broader group can vary. Financial examiners are projected to grow 19 percent from 2024 to 2034 and had a median annual wage of $90,400, according to the BLS K-12 business and finance occupations poster. Management analysts were listed with 94,500 projected openings and a median annual wage of $101,190. The BLS projections are forecasts for 2024-34, while the wage figures are measured for May 2024.
For readers comparing business education with career possibilities, the time references are important: NCES degree awards are historical academic-year counts, AACSB enrollment and finance measures describe reported school data and five-year changes, GMAC findings describe survey responses and 2024 plans, and BLS employment figures combine May 2024 wages with 2024-34 projections.