Domestic demand for U.S. graduate schools has not diminished due to the pandemic.
According to a Council of Graduate Schools report released last week, also sponsored by the Graduate Record Examinations Board, graduate applications increased 7.3% from fall 2019 to fall 2020 and first-time graduate enrollment increased by 1.8%. While international graduate first-time enrollment declined 37.4%, domestic enrollment grew 12.9%, partly driven by students in traditionally underrepresented populations. First-time, part-time graduate enrollment increased 13.5%.
“It’s clear to me that the increase in the number of students pursuing part-time degrees is an indicator of folks looking for flexibility in when and how they access graduate education,” said CGS president Dr. Suzanne Ortega. “We don’t have the data specifically on enrollment in online programs, but we know that the areas where there’s growth in master’s and part-time are often delivered virtually.” 
Dr. Suzanne Ortega
Between fall 2019 and fall 2020, first-time enrollment increases for American Indian/Alaska Native students was 8.8%, 16% for African American students and 20.4% for Latinx students.
“The pandemic has forced us to think longer-term about increasing access and flexibility in graduate education,” said Ortega. “We learned some really important lessons about how to reach students, how to make graduate education available in ways that are intellectually demanding but meet people’s lifestyles.”
Of the 1.7 million graduate students at institutions that responded to the survey that provided the data for “Graduate Enrollment & Degrees: 2010 to 2020,” 72.9% were enrolled in master’s degree programs. Education (63.8%), business (53%) and health sciences (43%) were the largest broad fields of study and the fields with the largest proportion of part-time students.
