Undergraduates who already held a bachelor’s or higher degree and the fields they were studying.

The National Center for Education Statistics released a new Data Point today (May 23rd) entitled Going Back to College: Undergraduates Who Already Held a Postsecondary Credential. This Data Point presents the percentage of 2015–16 undergraduates who had already received an undergraduate credential and the fields these undergraduates were studying. Three percent of 2015–16 undergraduates who were pursuing a bachelor’s degree and 6 percent of those pursuing a certificate or associate’s degree already held a bachelor’s or higher degree. Health was the most common field of study among undergraduates who already held a bachelor’s or higher degree: 29 percent of those pursuing a bachelor’s degree and 27 percent of those pursuing a certificate or associate’s degree chose health as their major field of study. The Data Point is based on data from the 2015–16 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:16), which surveyed a nationally representative sample of all undergraduates enrolled in Title IV eligible postsecondary institutions in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico any time between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016.