Finance

Types of Degrees Finance Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many finance & financial management graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	47,462
Basic Certificate	4,542
Master’s Degree	4,173
Graduate Certificate	1,301
Associate Degree	332
Undergraduate Certificate	161
Doctor’s Degree	42

What Finance Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, finance 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 Finance Majors

Finance majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• 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.
• Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• 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.

Skills for Finance Majors

When studying finance, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• 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.
• 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.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Abilities for Finance Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a finance student include the following:

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

What Can You Do With a Finance Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with finance:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Budget Analysts	6.5%	$76,220
Business Professors	18.0%	$83,960
Credit Analysts	8.3%	$71,520
Credit Counselors	13.8%	$45,180
Financial Managers, Branch or Department	18.7%	$127,990
Financial Quantitative Analysts	9.6%	$70,280
Investment Underwriters	9.6%	$70,280
Loan Counselors	13.8%	$45,180
Loan Interviewers and Clerks	12.4%	$39,890
Risk Management Specialists	9.6%	$70,280
Sales Agents, Financial Services	6.2%	$64,120
Securities and Commodities Traders	6.2%	$64,120
Treasurers and Controllers	18.7%	$127,990

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance?

This is one of the most frequently chosen undergraduate majors. It is the 10th most popular in the country with 48,214 students graduating with a bachelor’s in finance in 2021. This major tends to be male dominated. About 73% of recent graduates are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	3,684
Black or African American	2,093
Hispanic or Latino	5,790
White	29,744
International Students	3,205
Other Races/Ethnicities	2,946

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Finance, too. About 6.8% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Finance

Some careers associated with finance require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to finance have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	0.6%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	20.1%
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)	3.1%
Some College Courses	8.4%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	6.7%
Bachelor’s Degree	38.6%
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.	6.4%
Master’s Degree	10.3%
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.	0.4%
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.	0.8%
Doctoral Degree	4.3%

Online Finance Programs

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)	52	11
Certificate (2-4 Years)	2	0
Associate’s Degree	86	21
Bachelor’s Degree	140	60
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	263	65
Post-Master’s	29	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	19	2
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	2	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Finance

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

Major	Number of Grads
Business Administration & Management	395,227
Accounting	84,760
General Business/Commerce	57,204
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	56,747
Marketing	52,820
Human Resource Management	25,350
Business Support & Assistant Services	16,604
Hospitality Management	14,076
Entrepreneurial Studies	12,707
Management Information Systems	11,695
Real Estate	7,783
International Business	7,505
General Sales & Marketing	5,965
Other Business, Management & Marketing	4,903
Business/Managerial Economics	4,885
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing	4,322
Construction Management	4,158
Insurance	2,334
Taxation	1,257
Business/Corporate Communications	837
Telecommunications Management	58

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 Dave Dugdale under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.