Educational Administration

Types of Degrees Educational Administration Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many educational administration graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	28,511
Graduate Certificate	9,263
Doctor’s Degree	7,684

What Educational Administration Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, education admin 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 Admin Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• 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.
• 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.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

Skills for Education Admin Majors

A major in education admin prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• 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.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Abilities for Education Admin Majors

As you progress with your education admin degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Educational Administration Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with education admin:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Distance Learning Coordinators	10.7%	$82,850
Education Administrators, Elementary and Secondary School	7.9%	$95,310
Education Administrators, Preschool and Childcare Center/Program	10.8%	$47,940
Fitness and Wellness Coordinators	10.7%	$82,850
Postsecondary Education Administrators	10.1%	$94,340

Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration?

This is one of the most frequently chosen graduate majors. It is the 6th most popular in the country with 28,511 students graduating with a master’s in education admin in 2021. The major attracts more women than men. About 71% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	595
Black or African American	4,192
Hispanic or Latino	3,666
White	17,303
International Students	389
Other Races/Ethnicities	2,366

Geographic Diversity

Education Admin appeals to people across the globe. About 1.4% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• China
• Saudi Arabia
• South Korea
• Jamaica
• India

How Much Do Educational Administration Majors Make?

Master’s Degree Starting Salary

According to 2019-2020 data from the U.S. Department of Education, students who graduated with a master’s degree in education admin have a median salary of $52,162 during the early years of their career. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $46,688 (25th percentile) and $57,819 (75th percentile).

One thing to note here is that not all of these people may be working in careers related to education admin.

Salaries According to BLS

Education Admin majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $53,990 to $98,750 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes 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 Educational Administration

Some careers associated with education admin 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 admin careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	6.7%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	1.2%
Some College Courses	3.9%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	6.3%
Bachelor’s Degree	22.3%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	2.0%
Master’s Degree	36.2%
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.	8.0%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.6%
Doctoral Degree	11.6%
Post-Doctoral Training	2.1%

Online Educational Administration Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 920 schools offered some type of educational administration 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)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	13	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	2	0
Associate’s Degree	7	0
Bachelor’s Degree	308	97
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	1,128	336
Post-Master’s	435	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	503	112
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	37	3
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	37	7

Is a Degree in Educational Administration Worth It?

The median salary for a education admin grad is $89,570 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 124% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $993,400 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Educational Administration

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

Major	Number of Grads
Teacher Education Grade Specific	34,451
Special Education	25,158
General Education	21,189
Teacher Education Subject Specific	20,616
Curriculum & Instruction	19,784
Student Counseling	13,840
Instructional Media Design	8,387
Teaching English or French	4,743
Other Education	2,513
Multilingual Education	1,672
Educational Assessment	1,215
Education Philosophy	421
International Education	257
Teaching Assistants	20

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 Shai-WMIL under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.