Bachelor's degree or higher is a commonly used term by the United States Census Bureau

United States Census Bureau

The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

 and other U.S. government agencies on the federal as well as state and local level. The term describes the portion of the population that has either a bachelor's degree or a higher degree such as a master's or doctorate degree. In 2003 27.2% of the population over 25 years old in the United States had an educational attainment described as "bachelor's degree or higher," meaning that 27.2% of the population had either a bachelor's or a higher degree.

The term is sometimes used as a synonym for "college graduate" as it includes not only those with a bachelor's degree but all others who have completed a degree requiring more than four years of credits. While the term is sometimes used interchangeably with the term college graduate, it excludes those with an associate's degree, as this college degree only requires two years' worth of units and is thus lower than bachelor's degree.

See also

• Educational attainment in the United States
  Educational attainment in the United States
  The educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
  
  
• Education in the United States
  Education in the United States
  Education in the United States is mainly provided by the public sector, with control and funding coming from three levels: federal, state, and local. Child education is compulsory.Public education is universally available...
  
  
• Academic degree
  Academic degree
  An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
  
  
• Associates degree
• Bachelor's degree
  Bachelor's degree
  A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
  
  
• Master's degree
  Master's degree
  A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
  
  
• Doctorate degree