Graduate student registration is increasingly vital to the overall registration wellness for colleges. As demographic changes make it more challenging to expand typical undergraduate enrollment, institutions will certainly need graduate student population development to fill in those gaps.
The good news is that the graduate student market is growing. According to National Trainee Clearinghouse information, graduate registration got to an all-time high of 3 2 million in autumn 2024, with a 3 3 % rise for many years prior to.
Nevertheless, in order to compete for these trainees, you need to recognize their inspirations, affects, and worries when it comes to their choice of a higher educational institution. To go into these issues, RNL surveyed 1, 400 possible and registered graduate students on a variety of problems that associate with their choice to pursue graduate research. Below are a few of the key searchings for that registration managers require to understand.
What is their primary motivation to examine?
It’s not a surprise that today’s pupils are career-oriented, yet it’s clear that progressing their current occupation is the leading motorist, with 74 % of our individuals providing that as their key inspiration to examine.
What does this mean for us as practitioners in college? It’s vital to not just highlight career-related information, however also to make sure that information and results are very easy to find. In an additional finding from our record, 90 % of respondents suggested that it is essential for program web pages to give particular and easy-to-access info on jobs connected to their area.
What influences graduate students to take into consideration graduate research?
As you can see here, these choices are largely self-motivated also if the reasons to seek grad study are career-oriented. I find it intriguing that these are not more employer-driven, particularly when it concerns continuing levels. However, it still reveals that most of graduate students are self-motivated, intrinsic students that see graduate research study as a method to improve their lives.
What are the most crucial program attributes to potential college student?
For our study participants, format flexibility was the function that was cited as most important, adhered to very closely by readily available expertises. This is interesting, as the participants mentioned modality, program style, and specializations, and afterwards adaptable scheduling. This can be a reflection of the expanding number of Gen Z students (those under 29 that make up 56 % of the college student population according to the fall 2023 IPEDS picture. This modification in pupil age demographic stresses the importance of offering and designing those programs for numerous shipment types and truly satisfying those pupils where they are.
What are the primary worries of graduate students?
I don’t think anybody will be surprised that price is an issue for 60 % of college students. Yet half of our participants also mentioned harmonizing duties as a key concern. This is again, not shocking taking into consideration the large bulk of our participants claimed they functioned permanent. While fewer than 20 % pointed out ROI uncertainty, that still stands for 1 in 5 of our pollster. The lower line is that establishments require to directly resolve these pain points when they perform outreach with students. Alleviating a few of those issues right now can help trainees feel more comfy while doing so and be more probable to sign up in, and inevitably finish their programs.
What will inhibit a graduate student from relating to a program?
Lastly, we asked our study respondents which common requirements would possibly discourage them from applying to a program.
As you can see, 1 in 3 students pointed out letters of recommendation and essays/personal declarations. This is not to say that organizations need to remove these requirements, however be conscious if your program really requires them in the assessment process. In a similar way, for products such as records, search for ways to make it less complicated for transcripts to be sent or gathered to remove the problem from trainees– and a possible obstacle from relating to your program.
Check out the complete report for even more insights
These findings stand for a portion of what you will discover in the 2025 Graduate Student Employment Record It’s packed with findings on the channels college students make use of to look for colleges, how they make use of online search engine for study, which digital advertisements they click on, and much more.
You can also see our webinar Keys to Engaging and Joining Graduate Students to hear my coworker Lori Cannistra and I discuss the findings and how you can use them to lead your approaches. And if you intend to review graduate advertising and recruitment strategies, connect to establish an appointment
Talk with our grad and online registration professionals
Ask for a cost-free appointment with us. We’ll help you assess your market and establish the optimum approaches for your possible graduate students and on the internet students.