Engineering Trends continues to correlate graduate degrees with research expenditures in order to approximate master's and doctoral degree costs and determine cost trends. The procedure used relies on the determination of the slope and intercept of a plot of research expenditures per faculty member versus doctoral degrees per faculty member. Only data from engineering colleges that report non-zero values for faculty, master's degrees, doctoral degrees and research expenditures are used. Faculty data for the fall of the academic year are used.

The slope of the line through the data points is the average research expenditure per doctoral degree. This value would include expenditures for the duration of a graduate student's doctoral study. The intercept is interpreted as the expenditures per faculty member if no doctoral degrees are awarded. Thus, the intercept, when divided by the average number of master's degrees per faculty member, provides an estimate of the research expenditures per master's degree.

Research Expenditures in US Engineering Colleges

The graph below shows data for 157 engineering colleges reporting non-zero data for faculty, graduate degrees and research expenditures for AY2005-06. The slope is 500k$ (actual dollars) per doctoral degree and the intercept is 60k$ per faculty member. The master's degree per faculty member ratio was 1.77, resulting in 34k$ per master's degree.

The two graphs below indicate the research expenditures per engineering graduate degree for the last fifteen years. Both actual dollars and inflation-adjusted dollars are shown. Even though significant fluctuations are seen for the actual dollar data for master's degrees, there does not appear to be a long-term upward or downward trend. The inflation-adjusted data show a slight downward trend over the past decade or so.

The doctoral data, actual dollars and inflation-adjusted dollars, show an upward trend beginning in AY1995-96 and ending in AY2003-04. In AY2004-05 and AY2005-06, substantial declines occurred.

It is noteworthy that the average annual growth in research expenditures from AY1998-99 through AY2003-04 was 10.6% (actual dollars). For AY2004-05 and AY2005-06, the average annual growth was only 3.7% (actual dollars). In terms of inflation-adjusted dollars, the average annual growth for these two years was 0.6%. In addition, doctoral degrees increased 11.4% in AY2004-05 and 13.9% in AY2005-06.

Research Expenditures in Engineering Disciplines

The "slope and intercept" analysis was carried out for five engineering disciplines. These were selected on the basis of sufficient numbers of engineering colleges reporting non-zero data for faculty, graduate degrees and research expenditures to minimize scatter in the results. The disciplines selected and the number of colleges reporting data were chemical (96), civil (95), "computer" (computer science included) (79), electrical (120) and mechanical (110) engineering.

The two graphs below show the research expenditures (actual dollars) for master's and doctoral degrees for the five engineering disciplines included in this study. Data for overall engineering are shown as well.

All five disciplines continue to have expenditures per master's degree higher than engineering as a whole. For AY2005-06, civil and chemical engineering were 3.3 times and 5.2 times higher, respectively, as overall engineering. None of the five disciplines, as well as engineering, exhibited any significant upward or downward trends (actual dollars) over the past decade or so.

For expenditures per doctoral degree, all five disciplines had maxima in AY2002-03 after about a decade of substantial growth. These trends generally matched that of engineering except that the maximum for engineering occurred in AY2003-04. The five disciplines all exhibited expenditures per doctoral degree lower than engineering. In AY2005-06, research expenditures for the five disciplines were approximately half of overall engineering expenditures.

Summary

Data for engineering research expenditures per faculty member and graduate degrees per faculty member in AY2005-06 were analyzed to obtain estimates of the average research expenditures per master's degree and per doctoral degree. This information is applicable to total time of graduate study, not just AY2005-06. Research expenditures per graduate degree for the period AY1990-91 through AY2005-06 were analyzed.

For engineering as a whole, research expenditures (actual dollars) per master's degree over the past ten years have been essentially constant with year-to-year statistical fluctuations.

Research expenditures (actual dollars) per doctoral degree increased from 243k$ in AY1994-95 to 635k$ in AY2003-04 (161%). From AY2003-04 through AY2005-06, expenditures declined 21% to 500k$.

It is noteworthy that the average annual growth in research expenditures in US engineering colleges from AY1998-99 through AY2003-04 was 10.6% (actual dollars). For AY2004-05 and AY2005-06, the average annual growth was only 3.7%. In addition, doctoral degrees increased 11.4% in AY2004-05 and 13.9% in AY2005-06.

Research expenditures for graduate degrees in five engineering disciplines (chemical, civil, computer (including computer science), electrical and mechanical engineering) were also estimated for AY2005-06. For master's degrees, all five disciplines exhibited higher research expenditures than engineering as a whole. Like engineering, the expenditures were essentially constant since the late 1990s. For doctoral degrees, the five disciplines exhibited lower expenditures than overall engineering. The five disciplines generally showed an increasing trend through AY2002-03 followed by a decreasing trend through AY2005-06, following essentially the same pattern as engineering as a whole.

Acknowledgments

The data used in this study originated from the annual surveys of the American Society for Engineering Education. Engineering Trends acknowledges the efforts of this organization in providing credible data and expresses its gratitude for their services to the engineering profession. Persons seeking further information about their surveys and the availability of survey data should visit the ASEE Web site (www.asee.org).

Footnote

Engineering Trends data are compiled mainly from information submitted by universities to the annual surveys of EWC and ASEE. On the very rare occasions where errors in data appear, Engineering Trends corrects the error, if possible, or deletes the data if the error is large enough to alter significantly the trend of the university or the US total.