Outcomes

Is Your Major a Certificate or a Degree? For 17 Fields, It Depends on the State

Across 5,878 field-and-state combinations, what credential a field awards is mostly a property of the field, not the state: grouping by field accounts for 76% of the variation and grouping by state 5%. But 22 fields swing by more than 50 percentage points depending on where you study.

Reporting period: 2024-25Last verified: September 24, 2026

By CampusPin Research · Published August 18, 2026

Executive summary

Choosing a field does not settle what credential you will graduate with. The same field is awarded as a short certificate at one college and as a bachelor's degree at another. This analysis measures how much that varies, using the credentials U.S. colleges reported conferring to the federal IPEDS completions collection in 2024-25.

The natural assumption is that this is a state-system story, with certain states running certificate-heavy pipelines. The data does not support it. Across 5,878 field-and-state combinations covering 121 fields, grouping by FIELD accounts for 76% of the variation in certificate share, while grouping by STATE accounts for 5%. What you study predicts your credential far better than where you study.

The exceptions are the point, and they are specific. 22 fields vary by more than 50 percentage points between the 10th and 90th percentile state, led by Computer Support and Help Desk, Project Management, Fire Science. In those fields a student can enrol expecting one kind of credential and receive another, and the only way to know is to check the state. 12 fields show no measurable variation at all: Commercial Truck Driving, Phlebotomy are certificates essentially everywhere, and Physical Therapy, Computer Engineering are degrees essentially everywhere.

Key findings

Grouping field-and-state combinations by field explains 76% of the variation in certificate share; grouping by state explains 5%.
22 of 121 fields vary by more than 50 percentage points between their 10th- and 90th-percentile state.
The widest is Computer Support and Help Desk, running from 0% certificates in its 10th-percentile state to 100% in its 90th, a spread of 100 points.
12 fields show no measurable spread: the credential is the same wherever it is awarded.
The median field varies by just 13 percentage points, so most fields are consistent nationally and the exceptions are a minority worth naming.
Measured across 5,878 field-and-state combinations that each cleared a floor of 50 credentials, covering 121 fields present in at least 15 states.

Data

Download dataset (CSV)

For each of the 121 fields analysed: how many states report it, how many credentials it represents, its national certificate share, and the 10th percentile, median and 90th percentile certificate share across states, with the resulting spread in percentage points.

Field	States reporting	Credentials conferred	National certificate share (%)	10th percentile state (%)	Median state (%)	90th percentile state (%)	Spread (percentage points)
Computer Support and Help Desk	21	5338	66	0	70	100	100
Project Management	28	5501	37	0	18	97	97
Fire Science	24	8421	77	4	75	92	89
Diesel Technology	33	8787	71	17	54	98	81
Entrepreneurship	33	10381	43	4	24	84	80
Real Estate	21	7827	49	0	44	80	80
Computer Programming	25	11837	54	7	46	83	77
Operations Management	26	11591	54	0	6	73	73
Culinary Arts	29	9249	55	6	52	76	70
Veterinary Technology	27	6992	44	0	35	69	69
Aviation Maintenance	25	5773	73	28	72	96	69
Automotive Technology	42	38155	72	25	73	92	67
Human Resource Management	39	17356	21	0	6	66	66
Hospitality Management	32	7352	18	0	14	64	64
Paramedicine	37	28999	87	33	82	95	62
Construction Management	30	5141	18	0	4	59	59
Graphic Design	37	9779	19	0	10	57	57
Substance Abuse Counseling	23	5680	56	22	59	78	57
Medical Billing and Coding	32	8326	82	44	89	100	56
Electrical Engineering Technology	27	6644	49	3	42	58	55
Cybersecurity	48	46772	25	2	26	56	54
HVAC Technology	35	16657	86	48	87	99	51
Business Analytics	24	11296	6	0	1	50	50
Digital Media	33	11520	10	0	8	48	48
Paralegal Studies	36	9300	42	16	42	64	48
Surgical Technology	36	7358	19	0	9	48	48
Early Childhood Education	44	33208	29	0	10	45	45
Electrician	32	19419	85	55	84	100	45
Pharmacy Technician	19	5144	90	55	96	100	45
Supply Chain Management	30	11149	14	0	8	45	45
General Studies	48	128724	17	0	1	44	44
Interior Design	27	5403	21	0	15	42	42
Film Production	27	9139	14	0	10	41	41
Liberal Arts	49	345269	25	0	0	38	38
Health Sciences	49	44978	14	0	3	37	37
Information Technology	41	48157	26	0	6	36	36
Criminal Justice	50	87505	22	1	18	36	35
Dental Assisting	35	10784	88	65	92	100	35
Medical Assisting	41	33436	86	65	88	98	33
Industrial Maintenance Technology	22	7625	83	67	85	99	32
Human Services	34	11816	11	0	4	31	31
Diagnostic Medical Sonography	25	6089	13	0	4	30	30
Welding Technology	44	50292	93	70	92	99	29
International Business	28	6570	9	0	0	27	27
Animation	25	6276	15	0	4	27	27
Cosmetology	22	13077	92	76	98	100	24
Radiologic Technology	39	11879	16	0	2	24	24
Practical Nursing	45	39661	95	77	100	100	23
Business Administration	51	349759	12	0	4	22	22
Organizational Leadership	42	16428	9	0	3	22	22
Data Science	30	11416	5	0	0	21	21
Information Systems	33	10207	6	0	1	20	20
Special Education	46	34892	3	0	1	19	19
Engineering	36	14061	5	0	0	16	16
Communications	31	11456	7	0	0	16	16
Accounting	50	60960	5	0	2	15	15
Secondary Education	41	10495	3	0	0	15	15
Instructional Design	27	9036	3	0	0	15	15
Education	48	26643	4	0	0	14	14
Creative Writing	30	6876	5	0	1	13	13
Software Engineering	18	6259	2	0	0	13	13
Marketing	48	51987	6	0	2	12	12
Philosophy	36	8961	2	0	0	12	12
Theater Arts	36	9870	5	0	0	10	10
Physical Education	35	6706	6	0	0	10	10
Dental Hygiene	39	8614	3	0	0	9	9
Geology	35	5364	1	0	0	8	8
Anthropology	41	10514	3	0	0	7	7
Statistics	25	9666	3	0	0	7	7
Public Policy	21	5745	5	0	0	7	7
Healthcare Administration	44	28320	2	0	0	6	6
Religious Studies	24	9785	2	0	1	6	6
Industrial Engineering	30	7563	2	0	0	6	6
Animal Science	41	8471	2	0	0	6	6
Journalism	38	11189	1	0	0	6	6
Music	45	25858	3	0	1	6	6
Sports Management	42	18657	2	0	0	5	5
Public Administration	42	13545	1	0	0	4	4
Sociology	47	30563	1	0	0	4	4
Political Science	49	45049	1	0	0	4	4
Finance	47	53303	1	0	0	4	4
Social Work	50	57662	1	0	0	4	4
Theology	24	5910	2	0	0	4	4
Studio Art	37	11834	1	0	0	3	3
History	48	31115	3	0	0	3	3
Economics	46	47832	1	0	0	2	2
English & Literature	50	33338	1	0	0	2	2
Elementary Education	51	42162	1	0	0	2	2
Mathematics	47	26649	2	0	0	2	2
Public Health	45	24489	2	0	0	2	2
Nursing	51	254138	1	0	0	2	2
Biomedical Engineering	37	14208	1	0	0	2	2
Computer Science	49	89515	1	0	0	2	2
Exercise Science	48	32771	0	0	0	2	2
International Relations	31	10926	1	0	0	2	2
School Counseling	42	12463	0	0	0	1	1
Environmental Science	42	10962	1	0	0	1	1
Electrical Engineering	44	25848	1	0	0	1	1
Respiratory Therapy	35	6412	2	0	0	1	1
Applied Mathematics	28	11256	0	0	0	1	1
Psychology	51	149354	0	0	0	1	1
Chemistry	47	19505	1	0	0	1	1
Physics	40	13486	0	0	0	1	1
Biology	51	90054	1	0	0	1	1
Aerospace Engineering	28	10068	0	0	0	1	1
Speech-Language Pathology	32	6695	2	0	0	0	0
Mechanical Engineering	51	43535	0	0	0	0	0
Civil Engineering	49	19612	0	0	0	0	0
Neuroscience	37	12219	1	0	0	0	0
Physical Therapy	45	13612	0	0	0	0	0
Computer Engineering	34	13501	1	0	0	0	0
Physician Assistant Studies	41	13467	0	0	0	0	0
Pharmacy	41	11081	0	0	0	0	0
Criminology	36	10632	3	0	0	0	0
Chemical Engineering	37	10145	0	0	0	0	0
Biochemistry	37	9953	0	0	0	0	0
Occupational Therapy	39	9572	0	0	0	0	0
Commercial Truck Driving	24	8808	100	100	100	100	0
Kinesiology	29	8139	0	0	0	0	0
Phlebotomy	23	7000	100	100	100	100	0
Library and Information Science	31	6201	0	0	0	0	0

Methodology

Source data is the U.S. Department of Education IPEDS completions collection for 2024-25, which records credentials actually conferred. Institutions are matched to the federal directory on normalised name and state; any name resolving to more than one federal ID is excluded rather than guessed.

Credentials are grouped by IPEDS award level into certificate (awards below the associate level, including the under-12-week and 12-week-to-1-year codes), associate, bachelor's, and graduate (postbaccalaureate certificate, master's, post-master's certificate and the three doctoral codes). "Certificate share" is the certificate group divided by all four.

A field-and-state combination enters the analysis only with at least 50 credentials, and a field only when it clears that floor in at least 15 states and has at least 5,000 credentials overall. Without those floors a field present in three states with a handful of graduates could manufacture a 100-point spread.

Spread is the gap between the 10th and 90th percentile state, not between the minimum and maximum, so a single unusual state cannot produce a finding.

Variance explained is eta-squared: the between-group share of total variance when cells are grouped by field, and again when grouped by state. It describes where the variation sits. It is not a causal claim, and it does not say state policy is irrelevant to anything else.

Stability was checked against the prior year rather than assumed: comparing the same field-and-state combinations in 2023-24, the median absolute change in certificate share is 0 percentage points and 95% of combinations move less than 10 points.

Limitations

Completions record credentials already conferred. They confirm what was awarded in the reporting year; they do NOT confirm that a college is currently admitting students to that program, and the mix can change as programs open and close.
A certificate is a different credential from a degree, not a lesser one. This measures what is awarded, and says nothing about program quality, earnings, or whether one path suits a given student better than another.
Award level is recorded at the level of the credential conferred, so a college that awards both a certificate and a degree in one field contributes to both groups.
The comparison covers the fields CampusPin tracks, which represent a majority but not all of federally reported completions.
Figures cover institutions in CampusPin's dataset that join to the federal directory, not the complete Title IV universe.
Eta-squared is descriptive. Fields and states are not independent - some fields are concentrated in particular regions - and no attempt is made here to separate those effects.
This analysis measures WHAT varies, not why. A plausible explanation for the fields that swing most is that state licensing and regulatory requirements differ - fire science and real estate are both fields where the credential an employer or licensing board expects is set at state level - but that explanation is a HYPOTHESIS, not a finding. Nothing in the completions data identifies a cause, and no causal claim should be drawn from these figures.
A state that looks certificate-heavy overall is not necessarily teaching the same fields differently. Grouping by state explains very little of the variation WITHIN a field, so a state-level total mostly reflects which fields its institutions award rather than how any one field is taught there. Reading a pooled state figure as a statement about a particular field would invert what this analysis found.

For journalists

Headline figure: what credential a field awards is mostly a property of the field, not the state. Grouping by field explains 76% of the variation in certificate share; grouping by state explains 5%. The exceptions are specific and nameable: 22 fields swing more than 50 percentage points between their 10th and 90th percentile state, led by Computer Support and Help Desk, Project Management, Fire Science, while 12 fields show no variation at all. Every number is reproducible from the linked CSV and the federal completions file it cites. CampusPin publishes no rankings and makes no claim that a certificate is worth less than a degree.

Press & media Corrections

Sources, methodology & citation

Reporting period: 2024-25Last verified: September 24, 2026

Sources used across this page

Not every source informs every figure. Each data point draws on the source appropriate to it see the relevant section and the data dictionary for field-level provenance.

IPEDS / NCES College Navigator
Federal enrollment, admissions, tuition, retention, and program data. Released annually with a 1–2 year lag.
CampusPin credential-level compilation
CampusPin's aggregation of federal completions by award level for each field and state, computed from the federal collection cited below.

Where a value is unavailable it is shown as unavailable, never as 0, free, or a negative judgment. Always confirm final details with the institution before applying.

Methodology Data dictionary Report a correction

Suggested citation

CampusPin. (2026). Is Your Major a Certificate or a Degree? For 17 Fields, It Depends on the State. Retrieved from https://campuspin.com/research/is-your-major-a-certificate-or-a-degree

Related on CampusPin

How CampusPin verifies program data Does choosing a major narrow your college list?Explore majors