Undergraduate Degree Earners 

The number of undergraduate degree earners fell for the second year in a row in the 2022-23 academic year (-2.8% or -99,200 from a year earlier), after many years of gradual increases. First-time completers, accounting for 73.3 percent of all completers in 2022-2023, fell by 73,600 (-2.8%).  More students earned a certificate this year than in any of the last ten years. That growth in certificate earners is made up entirely by a 6.2 percent (+26,900) increase of those earning their first-ever award, building on last year’s growth (+6.5% or +26,700 from 2020-21) for a two-year increase of 13.1 percent (+53,600).