Conclusion
The 2025 Taulbee Survey’s most consequential finding is a sharp contraction in CS enrollments. New CS enrollments fell across every degree level in the longitudinal cohort (Bachelor’s -12.9%†, Master’s -10.3%†, and Doctoral -15.0%†). Total CS Master’s enrollment fell roughly 26%† in 2025 to 26,367†, representing the steepest decline in terms of the percentages. The larger decline in the total enrollments is likely due to a combination of factors including drastic decline in the new enrollments, degree completions from the peak levels of new enrollments in 2021-2022, and visa/immigration related issues. At the Doctoral level, newly admitted CS students fell by 15%† in 2025.
Degree production told the opposite story. CS Bachelor’s degrees awarded reached a record 32,266† (+48.5%† over five years, +12.8%† versus 2024), CS Doctorates increased by 16.1%†, and CS Master’s degrees showed only a slight decline of approximately 2.8%† compared to the 2024 levels. Because degrees lag admissions by several years, current production reflects the larger cohorts admitted in the early 2020s rather than present-day demand. On the faculty side, the longitudinal cohort lost tenure-track faculty at every rank (Assistant -6.6%†, Associate -1.1%†, Full -5.4%†). Departures broadened: 90% of responding units reported at least one faculty loss in 2025. At the same time, academic units that responded this year anticipate roughly 11.5% growth in Assistant Professor hiring next year.
Declines in CS enrollment warrants a close monitoring over the next several reporting cycles. The Master’s contraction has immediate implications for unit revenue and program planning at CS units where international students represent over half of new admissions. The doctoral admissions decline will propagate into lower PhD degree counts in the early 2030s even as current production sits at record levels, with downstream effects on academic hiring pools, postdoc availability, and faculty research output. The slip at the Bachelor’s level, while still small in absolute terms, is the first reversal after years of uninterrupted growth and merits sustained monitoring based on degree type and field.