Bachelor Degree Recipients’ Post-Degree Educational Attainment
This analysis is based on information from 34,483 students that received bachelor degrees from the University of Alabama between Spring 2019 and Spring 2023. Utilizing the ‘Student Tracker’ service of the National Student Clearinghouse, it was discovered that at least 14,522 students (42.1%) continued their education after earning their bachelors degree from the University. A large number of these degree recipients, 4,969 or 34.2%, continued their education at the University of Alabama. The current list of first-award institutions these students attended to continue their education is available online.
Of the 14,522 students that continued their education, 8,343 or 57.5% (24.2% of the 34,483 original degree recipients) received a second degree or certificate by Spring 2026. Also, 338 received a third award, and 23 received a fourth award. Medical degrees and especially doctoral degrees are understated in this analysis, since medical degrees usually require four years of study and doctoral degrees require six or more years. Therefore, students progressing in these areas have not had sufficient time to complete their advanced degrees for this study.
The following is a breakdown of the types of second awards received by the 8,343 students.
| Award Type | Frequency | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate | 348 | 4.2 |
| Associate | 139 | 1.7 |
| Bachelor | 332 | 4.0 |
| Educ. Specialist | 1 | 0.0 |
| Master | 6,119 | 73.3 |
| Doctorate | 102 | 1.2 |
| Prof (Medical) | 302 | 3.6 |
| Prof (Other) | 249 | 3.0 |
| Prof (Law) | 751 | 9.0 |
| Total | 8,343 | 100.0 |
The 8,343 students received their second award from 708 different institutions. The majority of the awards, 6,243 (74.8%) came from public institutions while 2,100 (25.2%) came from private institutions. Slightly less than half of the second awards, 2,722 (32.6%), came from the University of Alabama. The current list of second-award institutions is available online.
