General Education

Types of Degrees General Education Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many general education graduations there were in 2018-2019 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	19,995
Bachelor’s Degree	4,523
Doctor’s Degree	2,518
Associate’s Degree	2,187
Graduate Certificate	1,224
Basic Certificate	507
Undergraduate Certificate	112

What General Education Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, education majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Education Majors

Education majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Skills for Education Majors

When studying education, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Learning Strategies - Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.

Abilities for Education Majors

A major in education will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

What Can You Do With a General Education Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with education:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Education Professors	10.3%	$64,780

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in General Education?

This is one of the most frequently chosen teaching majors. It is the 4th most popular in the country with 4,520 students graduating with a bachelor’s in education in 2019. This major is dominated by women with about 82% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of education majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	259
Black or African American	386
Hispanic or Latino	655
White	2,591
International Students	271
Other Races/Ethnicities	361

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Education, too. About 6.0% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• China
• South Korea
• Saudi Arabia
• Canada
• Taiwan

How Much Do General Education Majors Make?

Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary

Data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that general education students who graduated in 2015-2017 with a bachelor’s degree made a median starting salary of $32,000 per year. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $27,600 (25th percentile) and $35,600 (75th percentile).

It’s important to note that just because the people reporting these salaries have a degree in education, it does not mean that they are working in a job related to their degree.

Salaries According to BLS

Education majors often go into careers with median salaries of $73,680. This median refers to all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to General Education

Some careers associated with education require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for education careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Bachelor’s Degree	0.6%
Master’s Degree	9.4%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	0.1%
Doctoral Degree	89.8%
Post-Doctoral Training	0.1%

Online General Education Programs

In the 2018-2019 academic year, 823 schools offered some type of general education program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	27	4
Certificate (1-2 years)	21	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	1	0
Associate’s Degree	169	19
Bachelor’s Degree	85	22
Post-Baccalaureate	27	4
Master’s Degree	411	137
Post-Master’s	60	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	93	16
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	7	1
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	3	1

Is a Degree in General Education Worth It?

The median salary for a education grad is $73,680 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 85% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $675,600 after 20 years!

Majors Related to General Education

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to education.

Major	Number of Grads
Teacher Education Grade Specific	100,925
Educational Administration	44,381
Teacher Education Subject Specific	43,516
Special Education	30,639
Curriculum & Instruction	18,767
Student Counseling	13,679
Instructional Media Design	7,063
Other Education	5,503
Teaching English or French	5,407
Multilingual Education	1,636
Teaching Assistants	1,591
Educational Assessment	1,532
Education Philosophy	634
International Education	400

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By KOKUYO under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.