Employers have been changing their educational requirements for their employees over the past five years, requiring more advanced degrees, a new survey indicated.
CareerBuilder conducted the study online from Nov. 4 to Dec. 1, 2015. The survey had more than 2,300 hiring and human resource managers participate from across the country, according to their website.
Sixty percent of the employers who are increasing their education requirements are doing so because they said skills for the positions they offer have evolved.
Michael Burks is obtaining a master’s from Ball State in adult and community education. He said he was going for a master’s degree for better career opportunities.
“More jobs are requiring higher 
education and there are better pay opportunities that come with having a higher degree,” Burks said.
According to the survey, higher degrees not only boost chances of being hired, but also boost the chances of being promoted in a job. These factors makes a lot of students want to go for higher degrees.
Enrollment in Ball State's master's programs is at an all-time high this year, after the university took steps to counter a steady decrease since 2011.
In the 2011-12 school year, there were 3,736 students enrolled in the master’s programs, according to Ball State's factbook. Every year after that, it continued to drop by almost 100 students each year. Stephanie Wilson, graduate student recruiter for Ball State, explained the drop in enrollment.
“[Part of] the reason for the enrollment drop was a Senate bill that changed the way teachers would be compensated,” Wilson said.
Since 2011, the graduate program has been working hard to strengthen the numbers of enrollment, she said. During this school year, master's enrollment went up to 3,882 students. That is 146 students more than in 2011. Wilson said a new program has evolved at Ball State.
“We have launched a graduate enrollment management program that has helped our departments look at how they recruit students for their programs,” Wilson said. “Enrollment is going up because our faculty is working hard.”
Wilson said she foresees enrollment to keep going up in the future. She also said graduate school is something every student should consider.
“Graduate school can be the professional tool to find new industries,” Wilson said. “I really think graduate school needs to be a part of every student's plan. Students need to research about the various graduate programs that we offer.”
Ball State offers more than 100 graduate programs, including master's and doctoral degrees.
Lauren Siler, a sophomore exercise science major, said going for a master’s degree is a good thing for students.
“I absolutely think that a master’s degree has its benefits. It allows one to have more skills specifically based on their career,” Siler said. “It also tends to allow for a higher income.”
Some companies will actually help their employees obtain a higher degree after they begin working for them, which could take some of the pressure of advanced degrees away. Forty percent of the employers that participated in the survey are sending their current employees back to school to get an advanced degree.
Other employers are providing in-house training. Sixty-eight percent of the survey participants said that their company offers training programs to their employees, including soft and hard skills training.
These results might make it hard for students to decide if they should go for an advanced degree immediately, or see if their employer will require them to after getting a job. Burks said this decision depends on the career.
“Some professions don’t want you to have a master’s degree because then they have to pay you more,” Burks said. “Others, though, require a higher education.”
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