A small but significant portion of our student enrollment is from our graduate programs. The college offers three graduate programs, a Master of Arts in journalism and mass communications – with specializations in integrated media and communications or professional journalism – a graduate certificate in public relations and social media and a graduate certificate in financial communications.
Enrollment in our graduate programs decreased in fall 2022, dropping from 90 students in fall 2021 to 65 this year.
We lost students in our master’s program, while enrollment in graduate certificates grew and shifted from financial communications to the PR and social media certificates.
First-time Graduate Students
The college enrolled fewer returning students due to the high number of students who have recently graduated from our graduate programs. Additionally, the college saw a decline in the number of incoming graduate students this fall, dropping from 25 to 16 incoming students in fall 2022.
To reverse this trend, the college will work with Jacht during 2022-2023 to develop a digital recruiting program for our graduate programs with a target of increasing our first-time graduate students in fall 2023.
The college enrolls a smaller proportion of nonresident students in our graduate program than the broader university community. 41.5% of our grad students are nonresidents, compared to 62.7% university-wide.
Gender
A majority of CoJMC’s graduate students identify as female, 68%. This is much higher than the university at large, where 51% of graduate students identify as female.
Race/Ethnicity
Overall, the college’s student population is 81% white. We improve on that number in our graduate programs where 71% of our students are white, and 29% are non-white. This figure still lags behind the university’s graduate student population, which is 41% non-white.
The college outperforms the university in enrolling black or African American and two or more race students but falls behind in other categories. The college enrolls a smaller proportion (9%) of U.S. nonresident students than the university (24%).
Country
In fall 2022, our graduate students came from 7 countries. All our graduate international students are enrolled in the master’s program.
We lost students from Brazil, Germany, India and Nigeria who were enrolled in fall 2021. We gained a student in Vietnam this year.
State
Graduate students came from 14 different U.S. states.
Most of our out-of-state students are enrolled in the master’s program.
Only three graduate certificate students are from out of state.
