PDF versionUS college and university geoscience program enrollments have been consistently tracked since 1955. Over this time, the number of programs has expanded substantially and enrollments have varied widely. The overall driver of enrollments through the history has been the price of petroleum, though the dependency on that factor is not as strong as it was in the 1980's and earlier. However, recent strong growth in enrollment is largely believe to be related to booming US energy production and the associated demand for geoscientists both on the producing side, but also on the waste management side.
