The realities of graduate certificate programs

Certificates, badges, stackable master’s degrees, and other short-format credentials appear to be a big countercyclical enrollment opportunity for universities. But in reality, the average graduate certificate program has four conferrals annually. Why don’t graduate certificate programs take off? To understand why, EAB took a first-of-its-kind holistic look at for-credit and noncredit graduate certificate enrollment trends, forces of supply and demand, and competition inside and outside of higher education.

We’ve outlined six insights on the market realities and challenges of launching certificate programs, based on a recent discussion EAB hosted for provosts and chief business officers. Check out the insights and our recommended next steps below.

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Review the Key Takeaways

The graduate certificate market is small

The graduate certificate market, while growing, is still extremely small. In fact, it represents only 7% of the for-credit market and is dwarfed by the outside higher education noncredit market.

A certificate is a sub-degree credential that demonstrates mastery of a skillset or a narrowly defined subject through the completion of a sequence of courses, typically ranging from three to six courses. Certificates can be for-credit or noncredit. They range from pre-baccalaureate, postbaccalaureate, and postmaster’s levels.

Certificate program conferrals are scarce

The rapid growth in conferrals in the for-credit graduate market over the last 10 years is outpaced by the growth in new for-credit graduate certificate programs. Also, the median number of conferrals for a for-credit graduate certificate program is four. This means the market is getting more concentrated and programs with sizeable conferrals are scarce.

Stackable certificates only accomplish so much

Stackable certificates that lead to a master’s degree represent a popular strategy, but those programs tend to not generate a lot in the way of net new students, and most of those certificates are earned by students already enrolled in a master’s program.

Certificates aren’t as affordable as perceived

The per credit cost of certificates is normally as high, if not higher, than a traditional master’s program. This means that certificates are not as affordable as potential students might think, and they have a more difficult time demonstrating ROI as the credential is not as recognized as a master’s degree.

Successful certificate programs serve a strategic purpose

Schools that have been successful with certificate programs are most often using them for specific strategic purposes as opposed to simply using them for revenue generation. For instance, certificates can be used to provide milestones for students earning either bachelor’s or master’s degrees that can improve retention.

How can certificates advance institutional goals?

Certificate programs can:

• Access underserved student markets
• Sustain mission-critical partnerships and programs
• Lower barriers to program innovation